The Unfinished Story
by xxIvorySkinnedxx
Summary: Something happened in Tris's past that made her decline Eric injecting her after passing the final test... and he kills her. Now two agent time travelers, Tris and every other significant character indulge in the book to find the problem. Secrets are revealed, love blooms and new discoveries are made.
1. Preface

**Preface: The Encounter**

After Tris has taken her final test and her legs finally stop shaking she takes a deep, staggering breath and is immediately filled with relief. Eric approaches congratulating her profusely his gun cordially stashed in his halter. Tris nods politely, "Thanks- thank you."

"There is one more thing before you can go and get ready for the welcoming banquet," he says. He beckons to one of the unfamiliar people behind him. A woman with blue hair hands him a small black case. He takes out a syringe and a long needle. Tris immediately tenses. The orange-brown liquid in the syringe reminds her of what they inject them with before simulations. "At least you aren't afraid of needles," he says. "This will inject you with a tracking device that will be activated only if you are reported missing. Just a precaution."

"How often do people go missing?" She asks, frowning. "Not often." Eric smirks reassuringly. "This is a new development, courtesy of the Erudite. We have been injecting every Dauntless throughout the day, and I assume all other factions will comply as soon as possible."

"Why is it starting at Dauntless, is it even properly tested?" Tris knows she shouldn't let him inject her with anything, especially not anything developed by Erudite; maybe even by Jeanine. But she also knows she can't refuse. _It could be poison?!_

"Where's Four?" She continues looking around suddenly. "Around probably getting his," He chuckles mockingly. "You still not over that little crush of yours on him or something?"

"I don't think…" She ignores him backing away from the approaching women, her paths immediately blocked by two other Dauntless men. Eric hand glides to the gun cautiously.

Then the lights go out!

"_Stop!_" Someone shouts theirs a bright flash of red, then the lights are on again.

The room is practically empty only a small amount of people left, the remainders look around dazed, confused gathering from their spread locations, until Tris gasps. "Mom, Dad, Caleb what're you guys doing here? How did you get_ in_?" She pushes through the group and embraces her mom and dad, wondering whether she should the same for her brother, but settles for a tight smile and nod. The remaining Dauntless stare at the materialized group Caleb, Natalie and Andrew Prior, Marcus Eaton, Susan and Robert Black and Cara.

The only unrecognizable are two young girls dressed in a somehow charming mixture of Dauntless and Amity clothes clutching handheld guns expertly. "Everybody freeze!" One of the girls shouts flipping her generous, auburn hair out of her eyes. "Stay calm, let us explain and then we can get moving."

"Cara!" Will exclaims taking a determined step forward. "_Or_." The girl continues aiming challengingly at Will's leg, "I'll shoot and then you'll listen."

"Stop Will I'm fine." They all appeared fine, not a hair out of place or clothing dishevelled. Four who was uncomfortably being thanked by his initiates a measly few seconds ago, looks around confused, gun out- until his eyed land on his dad, their eyes meeting for a millisecond before Four looks away glowering.

"What's going on here?" Eric points his gun at the other girl with jet-black bangs who glares openly at him. Tris jumps slightly away from him at his too quick reflexes, her mind grasps at straws was Eric _going_ _to sho- _"We're not here to hurt anyone or attack, we're here to collect. These guns are just a precaution." The auburn says cutting Tris's train of thought short. "I'm Alexandra and this is Violet," She jerks her head to the steely girl.

"We've been sent by the Dimensional, Universal Time Travelers- DUTT to assist you." Violet nods slowly lowering her gun, Four follows suite staring shocked now.

"A- Alexandra..?" He murmurs almost unsurely.

"Glad you remember me, Four is it?" She smiles and he grins back _an actual grin _swiftly putting his gun back in his halter. Tris throws him a confused look which goes unnoticed. "What are you doing?" Eric demands. "Put your gun back up."

"She won't shoot, though I don't know about her friend." Four nudges Eric embodying him to put his gun down. Eric doesn't budge he recognizes Alexandra just, images flash of her rapidly, unclearly almost blurry images of initiation many moons ago with her, she looked different now- hair, name. Though in some means the same as well the most striking difference her eyes, blue once, now green seemed to change her whole bearing from a strong-minded, generous, badass in initiation to this auburn, innocent face with only a familiar, mischievous glint of trouble in her eyes to remind him of old her. He remembers the day where she supposedly jumped and died in the Chasm, from stress of being number 1 and continuous rumours about affairs and divergence that endangered her life.

She speaks again. "Tris, Four, Christina, Will, Eric, Marlene, Lynn, Zeke," She pauses then says a little too dreamily. "Peter Hayes." He throws her a confused look but she continues before anyone can question it. "Oh, and Uriah we need you to come with us." They all approach gradually to them.

"Yes!" Uriah shouts. "I thought I was left out… where are we going?" Uriah heads towards the group before Zeke grabs him by his neck collar. "Why should we?" He questions eyebrows raised.

Violet jaded sighs. "Why do people always ask us that? Why? Who? Where? Can you guys just come with us?"_ Huger Games crew all over again. _Alexandra as if sensing her thoughts nudges her jauntily in the gut.

"Let's just do this, it'll be fun." Violet continues her voice forcedly upbeat as she throws 3 small, spherical purple balls on the floor, they roll then stop, then move again aligning to separate sides forming a triangle. Suddenly, a gaping purple/black portal opens up sucking inward lightly.

"Okay, jump through." Violet shouts over the whirring sound, hair flying lightly. Everyone stares gapingly at her casual tone, and the hole in the air in mid-air. "What, are you crazy? No way!" Christina backs up standing almost behind Will, as if in fear of getting swallowed up by it.

"It won't hurt and lasts about 5 second." Alexandra adds, but it does nothing to the retreating group. Violet purposely catches Tris' eye. "What's on the other side?" She questions taking a few steps forward.

"You'll see when you get there." She raises an eyebrow challenging at her. "It's important."

The girl nods more curious and suspicious then scared before glancing at Four, he nods and they walk through together. Natalie and Andrew follow with Caleb and Marcus on their heels. "Oh crap, seriously we just graduated." Christina says tugging on Will's arm towards it, with Cara in their tow. "So much for parties, cake and jumping from trai-" Her tirade fades as they're engulfed.

"This is going to be great." Uriah declares grinning, he releases himself from Zeke's grasp and jumps forward head first. "Uriah!" Zeke groans tailing him Tori close behind. "Uriah… _could_… get hurt." Marlene cringes grabbing Lynn's hand she doesn't resist following her friend.

Robert and a reluctant Susan follow. "Wait, is this really the smartest choice." She trembles as her brother pushes her lightly forward. "The first portal looked way better, it showed a clear vision to the destinati-"

Peter and Eric don't move. "Come on, they all went through," Violet motions coolly. "its perfectly safe."

"No." Eric says glaring at her. "I've never liked you in the books anyway." Violet doesn't hesitate and shoots Eric in the leg with a Dauntless computer-generated bullet, that they stole from Dauntles her gaze icy. "Now get-up-and-go!" She barks.

"You little bitch- I don't even know you. What are you talking about?" Eric mumbles from the floor, he yanks out the stick before firing lamely at her, she barely dodges it blanching at him for the very much _real _bullet. "Ass face." She clutches at the graze on her arm, blood dribbling through her now ripped arm sleeve before kicking Eric in the stomach.

"Now!" she kicks him again. "Go!" again, "Through!" and again.

Eric grabs her by the ankle pulling her down and punching her hard. They wrestle for a while before she stands up and tackles him into the portal.

Alexandra looks at Peter whose still staring at the portal wearily. "You coming?" He scowls at her before walking towards the portal, Alexandra stares dreamily before him until he disappears through. _He could so pass off as Miles Teller if he existed during my century._

She makes a quick glance around the room before quickly taking out a singular blue cube from her pocket, it's a centimetre in size, but has a whirling puff of dark blue inside. Crushing it under her foot she covers her nose with her sleeve and goes through the portal. As the blue fog spreads through the town and all its people appear frozen, the portal vanishes along with her and the other 20 people.

* * *

A weird tingling sensation rushes through Alexandra's body and her insides feel filmy. Suddenly, she's smiling and laughing and she feels like she's flying. Then altogether it stops and she stumbles on to a wooden room floor.

The room was large, irregularly shaped and systematized with large sofas, love seats and multiple single chairs; they surrounded a large coffee table in a semi-sphere. A large flat screen TV sat on one of the beige walls facing the living room furniture, and an air conditioner occupied the top corner of the right side wall.

There were three doors on opposite sides of the room; one, opposite from the TV leading to a vast hallway of bedrooms and entertainment rooms. Another to the bathrooms. The final door a meter away, left from the TV is the kitchen. The thing that most stood out though beside the single, ample window with transparent curtains that shone light but showed no outlook to the outside world was the book on the table. Next to the book lies two large bags, both big and brown but one strewn with pouches.

As Alexandra finally emerges everyone stares at her. She notices Eric slumped on a chair cradling his jaw and Uriah his head. "Did you do it?" Violet asks.

She nods, "Everyone in the town will be frozen for weeks." Theirs a heartbeat of silence before Tris finally voices what everyone's thinking. "Can one of you please tell us, what's going on?"

"We're from a century decades before your time but also decades ahead." Alexandra starts. "We're sent between futures, pasts, and alternate universes to prevent anything that shouldn't be happening from happening." Violet adds. "W-Why are you here?" Eric asks stumbling to get up. She jags her thumb reproachfully at her still leaking arm, which explains little. "Real bullets in that gun you had back there?" She asks.

"Well," Alexandra interjects, seeing the mess of confusion on everyone's faces. "Something happened in Tris' past for her to decline the serum and Eric, you were going to kill her." The air is immediately tense. "You were going to kill her." Four questions jaw set. "How dare you." Mr. Prior the usually calm man glares.

"You won't touch our daughter." Mrs Priors gradually slides Tris behind her shielding her protectively, she flushes knowing well she could handle Eric by herself. Everyone seemed to be banding against Eric expect, Marcus and Peter who smartly kept quiet.

"Hey stop," Alexandra shouts forming a barrier between Eric and the group. "Come on, that's why we're here to change that, that one choice in Tris past that changed everything and we're staying here until we finish that book." Most start eyeing the book on the table.

Violet watches for a while, then opts to the bathroom leaving Alexandra to explain. "What's in it?" Uriah stares sceptically at the book.

Alexandra cautiously moves away from the now calmer group, lifts the book with the Dauntless sign on it from the table, until it rests beneath her eyes as if trying to be dramatic. "This is Tris's life in a book." All eyes fall on Tris, who can only stare at the sudden, massive looking book. It was abruptly turning to something menacing, revealing and _unbearably_ embarrassing. Tris thinks of all her private thoughts, her and Tobias, her whole life exposed to everyone.

_Everyone will hear. Everyone will know._

"We have to read every word."

"All of it?" Tris asks after a long time. "Unless you want to die earlier than necessary, yes." As the words sunk in Alexandra puts the book down and reaches for the bag, without the pockets producing many notepads and pens. "These are yours, they're to take notes and make observations on everything. You need to fill a page a day." Murmurs of disapproval run through the room as she distributes them.

"We also need you to make a notes on where you think it all went wrong." Violet says re-entering the room, her arm now bandaged. "This is serious guys, we need you all to make sure you try your hardest in figuring this out. This could turn out badly for everyone if you don't." After a beat she claps loudly startling everyone. "Let's get started."

Marlene settles down on one of the love seats Uriah stretches over the rest of the couch laying his head on one of the many throw pillows in Marlene's lap. Lynn sits on a single chair alongside them envy filling her. Christina immediately beckons Tris to her so there's no debate on whether she and Tobias sit together. Tris throws him a weak smile before she sits with Will, Christina and Cara and him with Zeke and Tori. Susan and Caleb simultaneously sit in a loveseat then awkwardly evade the other, as old feelings resurface. Mr. and Mrs. Prior sit in the last love seat at an acceptable distant from the other. Peter, Eric and Marcus take single chairs. Alexandra excitedly sits next to Peter scooting her chair close to his. Violet and Edward take the remaining two.

· Love seat: Marlene and Uriah

· Love seat: Susan and Caleb

· Love seat: The Prior couple

· Large sofa: Tris, Christina, Will and Cara

· Large sofa 2: Four, Zeke and Tori

· Single chairs: Peter, Marcus, Eric, Robert, Alexandra and Violet.

"Okay who'll read first?" Alexandra asks never taking her eyes off Peter who slouches frowning. "I think I should read the first chapter to the book about me." Tris says holding out her hand.

Violet shakes her head. "Sorry, you're not allowed to read at all I'm afraid. This book_ is _you, you mess up a single, measly word and it could change the whole book." Violet sits with the book opening it herself.

"You _only_ read when we find the problem, so we can correct this thing."

Tris pauses at her words. _To change her whole world… _She wondered idly. _There would be a whole lot to lose, but there'd also be a lot to change for the better as well._ Tris contemplated this as she wrote her name on the front of the pad, like everyone else. Then on the first page she wrote _Day 1_, and underneath scribbled a quick note on her effect on the book.

"Here goes nothing." She murmurs.

**The people in this are Caleb, Natalie and Andrew Prior, Tobias/Four and Marcus Eaton, Susan and Robert Black, Cara and Tori, Tris, Christina, Will, Eric, Marlene, Lynn, Zeke, Peter and Uriah. Theirs also two OC's in which I carefully made up. I plan to actually finish this unlike other people who write about finishing the Divergent trilogy and don't.**

**I do not own the Divergent trilogy. *Runs away wailing***


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: A Peek into the Unknown**

**CHAPTER ONE**

"Ugh, bored already." Uriah groans writing it down. "We're not even past the title yet, don't write that." Violet protests. "What's wrong?"

"Chapter one, what type of boring title is that?" He answers. "Ok fine. How about we all name the chapter we read." She suggests. Uriah seems to contemplate this then nods waiting. "Well not now, let's get through the chapter first." Uriah groans dramatically while some in the room laugh.

**THERE IS ONE mirror in my house.**

Peter snorts. "What a page turner start."

"Why only one?" Christina questions sounding outraged. "Why would we need more than one, if we discourage vanity?" Andrew Prior conveys. "Sure fine, I get you Mr P." He goes tight-lipped at her choice of words.

**It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs.**

"And you hide it." _You lost me,_ she adds mentally.

**Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month,**

"Okay wow, the average person should look at themselves at least eight times a day." Uriah says. "Not proven." Will argues chuckling lightly.

"It is in _my_ books."

Zeke grins wearily. "That's why nobody reads them."

**The day my mother cuts my hair. I sit on the stool and my mother stands behind me with the scissors,** **trimming. The strands fall on the floor in a dull, blond ring.**

"Should we be writing any of this down?" Cara asks pen raised. "It seems somewhat irrelevant." Tris who's been busy scribbling away about Alexandra and Violet, and the portal and about the different colour balls looks up pointedly. "No offence." She adds unapologetic.

"I have an inquiry as well." Uriah raises his hand waiting for everyone's attention. "When are we having lunch?"

"Soon." Violet snaps. "Can I please read at least one sentence without being interrupted?" Theirs an immediate silence. "Write what you think is relevant." She adds as an afterthought to Cara.

**When she finishes, she pulls my hair away from my face and twists it in to a knot. I note how calm she looks and how focused she is. She is well-practiced in the art of losing herself. I can't say the same of myself. I sneak a look at my reflection when she isn't paying attention-**

"Vain." Peter coughs.

**_—not for the sake of vanity, but out of curiosity._**

She emphasizes looking at Peter.

"I'm actually going to try it. No mirror three weeks, who's in?" Christina exclaims. "I can't go without looking at this pretty face." Uriah traces his jaw in emphasis, theirs a low hum of laughter. "Oh is that how it is, okay; challenge accepted no mirror 1 month."

"Yeah right, Uriah." Tori laughs. "I'm in too, just to beat you." Zeke nods after a second agreeing as well. "Me too."

Uriah eyes them huffing. "Hmm, we shall see."

**A lot can happen to a person's appearance in three months. In my reflection, I see a narrow face, wide, round eyes, and a long, thin nose-**

"Your nose is pretty long." Cara notes suddenly staring at Tris' face, who attempts burying her face in her notepad as people incline to look at her face. Violet continues reading steadily refocusing the attention on her.

**I still look like a little girl, though sometime in the last few months I turned sixteen.**

"She is quite small, weak and girly." Eric notes. "How'd she end up number 1?" Tris stares at him in disbelieve. "I'm number 1?!" The whole room looks at Eric, Alexandra and Violet glaring patently at him.

The congratulations roll in. "I'm very proud of you sweetie."

"What does that mean?" Andrew asks his wife seemingly the only oblivious one. "It means your daughter ranked number one among all other initiates both transfers and Dauntless born. It represents that she's the strongest mentally and physically, and the bravest of all." Eric explains.

"Well, that's pleasing." Though his words are very suitable and appropriate for an Abnegation Andrew glows with an anti-abnegation hue of pride.

"I lost to a Stiff." Peter words hold menace, and not for the last time while reading this book. "You came second." Alexandra says as a flimsy attempt at cheering him up. It calms him down enough for her to continue.

"Just so you are all aware there are rules and we'll be telling you them while reading one of them are; _#Rule17; Never reveal events that are yet to transpire in the book, or have and are unknown to all present- unless told otherwise." _The majority of the room nod in acknowledgement, diligently writing it down.

**The other factions celebrate birthdays, but we don't. It would be self-indulgent.**

"No birthdays, no mirrors, no fun. Abnegation sure is living the life." Lynn says sarcastically before adding. "So what after sixteen do you just stop keeping count?"

"Usually…" Natalie trails off. "We sometimes keep count, but what's the point Abnegation is till death anyway." Every faction is, except Dauntless. _What's a hamburger?_Susan wonders to herself.

**"There," she says when she pins the knot in place. Her eyes catch mine in the mirror. It is too late to look away, but instead of scolding me, she smiles at our reflection. I frown a little. Why doesn't she reprimand me for staring at myself?**

"Why _didn't_ you reprimand her?"

"She isn't vain Andrew, and it was almost time for the test and she was so nervous already. It wouldn't have helped her at all." He nods understandingly.

**"So today is the day," she says. "Yes," I reply. "Are you nervous?"**

Theirs an internal, silent nod from every transfer and initiate.

**I stare into my own eyes for a moment. Today is the day of the aptitude test that will show me which of the five factions I belong in. And tomorrow, at the Choosing Ceremony, I will decide on a faction; I will decide the rest of my life; I will decide to stay with my family or abandon them.** **"No," I say.**

Eric raises an eyebrow at her, many of the room giving her questioning glances as well. "I was terrified, she knows I was but acknowledging it wouldn't do anything but make me feel worse."

**"The tests don't have to change our choices."**

**"Right." She smiles.**

Tris almost smiles in memory of the appreciation she felt at her mom immediate termination of the subject. She always understood her so well.

**"Let's go eat breakfast." "Thank you. For cutting my hair." She kisses my cheek and slides the panel over the mirror. I think my mother could be beautiful, in a different world.**

"Mother's very beautiful." Caleb protests. "That wasn't very proper." Susan says.

"Incredibly rude." Cara adds. "Beatrice apologize immediately." Peter scolds her mockingly. Uriah topples over laughing, Tris blanks incredulous, "Wait just a minute, this has to be explained." She gestures for Violet to continue.

**Her body is thin beneath the gray robe. She has high cheekbones and long eyelashes, and when she lets her hair down at night, it hangs in waves over her shoulders. But she must hide that beauty in Abnegation.**

"See I'm calling you beautiful. I'm basically saying outside of Abnegation you would be turning heads." Natalie smiles warmly at her daughter. "I never thought any differently, thank you sweetheart. Beauty though, is not something I care for very much." Andrew despite knowing it as rude, bends down and whispers something to his wife that makes her blush ever so slightly.

Tris eyes wonder idly to Alexandra and her partner, whose definitions seem to be beauty, who with no doubt would turn heads even in Abnegation drab, with their perfect figures and amazing , angle features. She can't help but compare herself to them, and wonder how Tobais feels about Alexandra and _how he even knows her?_

She sighs her curiosity almost overwhelming when she fails once again at catching his eye.

**We walk together to the kitchen. On these mornings when my brother makes breakfast, and my father's hand skims my hair as he reads the newspaper, and my mother hums as she clears the table—it is on these mornings that I feel guiltiest for wanting to leave them.**

The Priors avoid eye pointedly stare at different things in the room.

**The bus stinks of exhaust.**

"Whoa, okay." Will interrupts. "You couldn't have said new scene or page break." He says almost flustered. "Don't just do that, it's very unnerving."

"Touchy, touchy." Violet mocks but eventually says page break.

**Every time it hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jostles me from side to side, even though I'm gripping the seat to keep myself still.**

"The trains should be available to everyone, don't you think?" Uriah whispers to Marlene. "I think that's a great… _thought_, but the trains don't stop remember and I think even though it would be easier it would be harder too." She pauses. "Imagine all the factions trying to hop on and off trains."

He laughs lightly. "Yeah, never mind bad idea." She smiles lightly at him as if the scene was enfolding in front of them. "Though it is a nice thought." The two share a smile.

**My older brother, Caleb, stands in the aisle, holding a railing above his head to keep himself steady. We don't look alike. He has my father's dark hair and hooked nose and my mother's green eyes and dimpled cheeks.**

"Hooked nose." Caleb questions running his hand over his nose. "It suits your face though now that you're all grown up."

"It very much does." Christina says her voice suddenly faint.

Caleb turns beet red, and clears his throat awkwardly at the many ogling, pensive eyes of Marlene, Susan, Cara and Alexandra. "Dude, your brother is so hot." Alexandra says as a matter of fact. "Hubba, hubba." Marlene giggles and she, Christina and Alexandra laugh in unison.

Violet nods looking more calculating than attracted. "It's true." "Like good genes in your whole family." Marlene adds. Tris makes a disgusted face. "Eew, can we just keep reading _before_ the boys get anymore jealous."

"Don't pout at me Uri." Marlene says still laughing. "Yeah, Will, it's all in good fun." Tris smirks at Christina, "Anyway it wouldn't matter Caleb and Susan are a thing."

"No, we're not!" Said two say unconvincingly. "Sure..." Robert nods slowly, him and Tris exchanging a knowing look. "We're in different factions, anyway." Susan continues in a small voice avoiding eye contact with anyone. "It wouldn't work." They both shift away from each other.

**When he was younger, that collection of features looked strange,**

"Thanks, for telling me." Caleb mutters arms crossed.

**but now it suits him. If he wasn't Abnegation, I'm sure the girls at school would stare at him.**

"They do anyway." Cara says. "In Erudite before he even joined he was known of, and not because of his father's position."

"Honestly, he was seen everywhere." Christina adds. "In Candor since we always had to tell the truth imagine when you have a crush." Caleb having had no idea of this bows his head in silent mortification.

**He also inherited my mother's talent for selflessness. He gave his seat to a surly Candor man on the bus without a second thought.**

Face still flaming from embarrassment, Caleb gives himself a disapproving shake. He never, of course liked how good he was at tricking them.

**The Candor man wears a black suit with a white tie—Candor standard uniform. Their faction values honesty and sees the truth as black and white, so that is what they wear. The gaps between the buildings narrow and the roads are smoother as we near the heart of the city. The building that was once called the Sears Tower—we call it the Hub—emerges from the fog, a black pillar in the skyline. **

**The bus passes under the elevated tracks. I have never been on a train, though they never stop running and there are tracks everywhere. Only the Dauntless ride them.**

**Five years ago, volunteer construction workers from Abnegation repaved some of the roads. They started in the middle of the city and worked their way outward until they ran out of materials.** **The roads where I live are still cracked and patchy, and it's not safe to drive on them. We don't have a car anyway.**

**Caleb's expression is placid as the bus sways and jolts on the road. The gray robe falls from his arm as he clutches a pole for balance. I can tell by the constant shift of his eyes that he is watching the people around us—striving to see only them and to forget himself.**

"Actually... I was thinking of how the bus operates." Caleb corrects her. Andrew has to resist the urge to bury his face in his hands, wondering how he did not notice his children's indifference to their original faction.

**Candor values honesty, but our faction, Abnegation, values selflessness.** **The bus stops in front of the school and I get up, scooting past the Candor man. I grab Caleb's arm as I stumble over the man's shoes. My slacks are too long, and I've never been that graceful.**

Peter, Will and Uriah chuckle. _Understatement._

**The Upper Levels building is the oldest of the three schools in the city: Lower Levels, Mid-Levels, and Upper Levels. Like all the other buildings around it, it is made of glass and steel. In front of it is a large metal sculpture that the Dauntless climb after school, daring each other to go higher and higher. Last year I watched one of them fall and break her leg. I was the one who ran to get the nurse.**

"Oh my goodness, thanks for that by the way." Alexandra exclaims suddenly, Tris' jaw goes slack. "That was you? But you looked so differe-"

"Yeah, that was a, wig, the DUTT was doing some," She pauses thoughtfully. "_Work_ and then… oops." Violet begins to laugh. "Hey! That was your fault you pushed me."

"No I didn't! You slipped."

"I've literally never slipped, liar."

"You are."

"I'm the one whose ankle broke, I think I'd know if I got pushed or if I sli-"

"Ok then…" Tris intrudes feeling that this could be a long discussion. "We should _you know _read." Caleb writing something down under **NB **goes unnoticed.

**"Aptitude tests today," I say. Caleb is not quite a year older than I am, so we are in the same year at school. He nods as we pass through the front doors. My muscles tighten the second we walk in. The atmosphere feels hungry, like every sixteen-year-old is trying to devour as much as they can get of this last day.**

"We're not animals, Tris." Cara crosses her arms in artificial insult. "Well, some of us aren't." Four chuckles dryly looking at Uriah who's playing with strands of Marlenes' hair as if he's a cat.

**It is likely that we will not walk these halls again after the Choosing Ceremony—once we choose, our new factions will be responsible for finishing our education. Our classes are cut in half today, so we will attend all of them before the aptitude tests, which take place after lunch. **

**My heart rate is already elevated.** **"You aren't at all worried about what they'll tell you?" I ask Caleb. We pause at the split in the hallway where he will go one way, toward Advanced Math, and I will go the other, toward Faction History.**

**He raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you?"**

"Directing the question back at her," Eric nods. "Smart."

**I could tell him I've been worried for weeks about what the aptitude test will tell me—Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity, or Dauntless?**

Caleb smiles half-heartedly. "You could've told me, you know."

"No, I don't think I could of actually…" She wonders though if her brother would have told her to stay, so he could go. _No, he wouldn't..?_

**Instead I smile and say, "Not really." He smiles back. "Well…have a good day." I walk toward Faction History, chewing on my lower lip. He never answered my question.**

Caleb raises an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Aren't you observant? I thought I had you."

"Am I the only one who thinks chewing my lower lip sounds odd?" Alexandra says before Violet can read again. "I know right!" Uriah bursts. "But I didn't want to interrupt, Vio... _never mind._" He trails off at said girl's piercing glare.

**The hallways are cramped, though the light coming through the windows creates the illusion of space; they are one of the only places where the factions mix, at our age. Today the crowd has a new kind of energy, a last day mania. A girl with long curly hair shouts "Hey!" next to my ear, waving at a distant friend.**

"Can you say rude!"

"Oh really Christina,_ she_ was a Candor." The first jumper adds eyeing her friend's reaction. "That faction, hmm how expected." Though that was her faction only months ago Christina shakes her head disapprovingly as if they're worst one ever. Tris and the rest of the room laugh jokingly.

"_What!?_ I swear it wasn't me."

**A jacket sleeve smacks me on the cheek. Then an Erudite boy in a blue sweater shoves me. I lose my balance and fall hard on the ground. "Out of my way, Stiff," he snaps, and continues down the hallway.**

"The nerve." Marcus huffs slightly his face turning red. "The Erudite are seriously out of hand." Natalie adds with less vigour. "Did you hear of the uprising?" Andrew asks his question directed to the room as a whole.

"Uprising?" Tris questions. "We heard the Erudite were wanting to take over as government leaders, but nothing as drastic as an uprising."

"The rumours are true, we have no idea what they're planning to do but it's all the factions are talking about." Tori adds quizzically. "That's odd though. Instead of the two factions just meeting and discussing this why is Erudite creating all this… drama."

Will nods. "Uriah, I think they just want everyone's- all the factions that is- accordance, right now we're all just nodding to whatever rumours they put out there which is expected because they're the faction of intelligence."

"You think they're using that against us and spreading all this, you think none of its true…" Christina asks after a moment.

"I do." Tris says when Will doesn't answer. "Why else would they do all this?" Heads not so discreetly turn to the two Erudites' in the room who remain silent. "I think that's enough-"

"I'm just saying," Tris continues putting her hands up in mock defence. "All the Erudite seem to be unquestionably on the same page." Her eyes dart between Caleb and Cara, with no accusation just curiosity. "Sorry, if we offended you." Natalie directs at her son, after an awkward pause of Violet just glaring at Tris.

"It's OK." _This is going to be a dramatic group. _Violet thinks to herself, as she watches them tactfully write things in their notepads

**My cheeks warm. I get up and dust myself off. A few people stopped when I fell, but none of them offered to help me.**

"Huh, this is unbelievable." Alexandra bursts. "That's called bullying where we're from-"

"It's called bullying here as well." Peter interrupts.

"Either or," She shouts standing, ready to bounce in to a dialogue. "Bullying is getting out of hand, and people need to take a stand against all of this. They can't just go round thinking their better than you! Don't let them judge you for something when you're not even doing anything wrong! Whether it's cyber bullying or-"

Violet slips her foot by her partner's ankle, causing Alexandra to fall back onto her chair. "Shut up and sit down," "Oh, sorry," She flushes, before rambling on. "This will most probably happen a lot I used to be a motivational speaker."

"What's that?" Tris asks.

"A motivational speaker also known as an inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. The talk itself was known as a pep talk." Caleb answers. "I read a book on jobs that no longer exist." He says to the confused expressions.

"Interesting job." Cara says absently, Alexandra's outburst forgotten.

**Their eyes follow me to the edge of the hallway. This sort of thing has been happening to others in my faction for months now—the Erudite have been releasing antagonistic reports about Abnegation, and it has begun to affect the way we relate at school.**

"Why didn't you tell us? We had no idea it was that bad." Andrew worries. "I thought it would pass and it would be self- sympathy." Tris answers smartly.

**The gray clothes, the plain hairstyle, and the unassuming demeanour of my faction are supposed to make it easier for me to forget myself, and easier for everyone else to forget me too. But now they make me a target. I pause by a window in the E Wing and wait for the Dauntless to arrive. I do this every morning. At exactly 7:25, the Dauntless prove their bravery by jumping from a moving train.**

The whole room stares at Tris, who hadn't been aware of how strange that sounded until hearing it out loud. "What?" She manages feigning innocence.

"Stalker alert!" Uriah screams. "Were you like obsessed with us or something?"

"_No!_" She says too loudly. "I just found Dauntless interesting_._"

**My father calls the Dauntless "hellions."**

"Haha, hellions." Alexandra repeats laughing like it's the funniest thing ever. Her laugh is loud, comedic and contagious then suddenly everyone's suddenly snickering in unison. "Right, sorry, " She coughs wiping at her tears as everyone dies down. "Continue."

**They are pierced, tattooed, and black-clothed. Their primary purpose is to guard the fence that surrounds our city. From what, I don't know.**

"I still don't know." Tris glances at Four for an answer. "Neither do I." Four shrugs. The whole room looks at Eric. "I know what I'm told, and what's behind the fence isn't one of them" He scoffs. "Even if I did know I wouldn't tell any of you."

Tris purses her lips in suspicion, putting her pen to paper instead of voicing her opinion.

**They should perplex me. I should wonder what courage—which is the virtue they most value—has to do with a metal ring through your nostril.**

"I never got that part either." Four agrees. "Does make you look cool though." Will says. Alexandra can't help but chuckle to herself. "Nostril." _Such a strange, amusing word. _

**Instead my eyes cling to them wherever they go.**

Tris acknowledges that her fascination with the Dauntless might have been a bit extreme. "You are a stalker." Eric taunts.

**The train whistle blares, the sound resonating in my chest. The light fixed to the front of the train clicks on and off as the train hurtles past the school, squealing on iron rails. And as the last few cars pass, a mass exodus of young men and women in dark clothing hurl themselves from the moving cars, some dropping and rolling, others stumbling a few steps before regaining their balance. One of the boys wraps his arm around a girl's shoulders, laughing.**

**Watching them is a foolish practice.**

"I used to watch them sometimes too." Christina admits suddenly. "I guess I always thought they were just, so, _amazing_. They kind if just inspired me. Then again who doesn't watch the faction they want to be in." She laughs dryly at her choice of words, but when no one argues smiles in satisfaction.

**I turn away from the window and press through the crowd to the Faction History classroom.**

"You should say excuse me." Andrew scolds his daughter. "Right," She agrees quickly. "Done with chapter one?" Violet nods.

"So, just a note I think this should be called; Life as an Abnegation or My Weird World." Uriah says. "Just a suggestion."

"How about since you like to talk so much you read the next chapter." Violet says chucking the book at him. "Fine. This will be called; The Test, or The Choices or-"

"Just read, Uri." Marlene punches him. "OK, OK don't get your Dauntless cake in a bunch."

"I'm going to call it," Violet pauses mulling over Uriah's suggestion. "A Peek into the Unknown." Uriah grumps but nods eventually. "Not bad Agent Violet."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: One-Sided Questions?**

**CHAPTER TWO**

"Uri?" Marlene pokes at his head. "What?"

"Read."

"_I _am." He smirks challengingly. "Aloud." Lynn adds rolling her eyes.

"Can't you guys just listen to the thoughts coming out of my head?" He taps his head brazenly. "I mean if a person can write a book fully based off of Tris's mind, why can't you read mine in this moment? Really, how does this work? Where'd you two even get this book?"

"We're given the books and then we go out and do our jobs." Violet declares blankly. "It's true though, how did someone get all this information." Tris asks.

"I don't think you guys are aware but," Alexandra pauses leaning in as if too reveal a big secret. "There's always someone _listening_, someone _watching._" Her voice is slightly threating, and her eyes glint with that trouble and mischief Eric saw earlier.

"_Alexandra._" Violet warns.

"What? It's a simple fact. We have books on all of you, we know all your secrets." The room seems frozen. "No need to worry, I'm sure we won't get to the point where it's necessary to reveal those. As long as everyone does as they've been asked too." As if a switch flipped everyone's eyes settle on Uriah who doesn't hesitate to read.

Four continues to stare at her sceptically, when the smallest of smirks flickers across her face and Violet tilts her head in what looks like warning; he knows. She most definitely wasn't supposed to say that and Violet isn't happy about it- she was warning us. _Who's listening?_ He wonders. _Who's watching? She always was very clever. _Four grins despite himself, after all she did to him he still cherished her.

**THE TESTS BEGIN after lunch. We sit at the long tables in the cafeteria, and the test administrators call ten names at a time, one for each testing room. I sit next to Caleb and across from our neighbour Susan.**

_Finally,_ Susan thinks to herself giddy she wondered if she would be in it at all.

**Susan's father travels throughout the city for his job, so he has a car and drives her to and from school every day. He offered to drive us, too, but as Caleb says, we prefer to leave later and would not want to inconvenience him.**

"We really did not mind." Susan says to them. "It was alright I preferred to walk and the bus was always interesting." Caleb answers.

"Well, I didn't mind inconveniencing them every once in a while." Tris mumbles disgruntled.

**Of course not.**

"That was very hyperbolic." Caleb questions. "Well, your sister was obviously irritated with you for always being gratingly right, and more Abnegation than she could be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tris looks at him in mock disbelief. "You never really asked me if I wanted to ride in the car."

"I thought you'd say the same."

"You thought wrong." Alexandra says for Tris who simply shakes her head at him.

**The test administrators are mostly Abnegation volunteers, although there is an Erudite in one of the testing rooms and a Dauntless in another to test those of us from Abnegation, because the rules state that we can't be tested by someone from our own faction. The rules also say that we can't prepare for the test in any way, so I don't know what to expect.**

"How do you prepare for something you don't know." Violet states.

"There were other ways which was considered; asking your parents or the factionless," Caleb starts. "Accessing the Erudite test files." Cara carries on. They start shooting ideas at each other until Uriah asks if he can read as the rest stare at them warily.

**My gaze drifts from Susan-**

"Why were you staring at her?" Uriah snorts stopping mid-sentence.

"Les-be honest." says Alexandra and the two burst out laughing, at the crude lesbian joke. "You should hear Yo Mama disses." Alexandra adds. "You know what!" Uriah chuckles. "I would love to hear you dis people's mamas."

Marlene coughs awkwardly. "That should wait till after like after the chapter."

"Just to say I wasn't staring at her, I was thinking and my gaze landed on her." Tris says. "Sure..." Uriah and Alexandra say simultaneously before laughing again. "Okay, I'll read." Marlene reaches for the book irritably but he shifts so it's out of her reach.

**to the Dauntless tables across the room. They are laughing and shouting and playing cards.**

"I'm starting to wonder if you really are obsessed, with them." Robert laughs in an Amity way, so Tris knows he's joking.

**At another set of tables, the Erudite chatter over books and newspapers, in constant pursuit of knowledge.**

"See I'm describing all of them. I'm not obsessed." Tris can't help but, defend her every thought. She felt she would most probably be doing this a lot.

**A group of Amity girls in yellow and red sit in a circle on the cafeteria floor, playing some kind of hand-slapping game involving a rhyming song.**

"Not only the Amity play that game, they hog it like it's their game but we can play it too." Uriah says it with so much attitude that it results in a few questioning looks towards poor Robert.

"We don't hog it," He defends quickly. "The other factions call us childish and immature just for playing it; we didn't think anyone would want to play it besides our faction."

Uriah nods smugly. "Apology accepted."

"I didn't-"

"It's okay Robbie, I feel your remorse." The brunette decides to leave it at that.

**Every few minutes I hear a chorus of laughter from them as someone is eliminated and has to sit in the center of the circle. At the table next to them, Candor boys make wide gestures with their hands. They appear to be arguing about something, but it must not be serious, because some of them are still smiling.**

**At the Abnegation table, we sit quietly and wait.**

"Stiff's sure know how to throw a party." Peter says bluntly.

**Faction customs dictate even idle behaviour and supersede individual preference. I doubt all the Erudite want to study all the time,**

"We don't." Caleb says.

**or that every Candor enjoys a lively debate, **

"True that." Christina points out.

**but they can't defy the norms of their factions any more than I can.**

Cara mumbles her agreement. "Praise!"

"It's like it's illegal to be different here." Alexandra pouts. "It is, Divergent remember." Eric says. A few shivers erupt through the room.

"How is it wrong to not be like everyone else- well in your case everyone in your faction?" The whole room stares silently as she goes through another one of her talks in silence. "It used to be good to stand out and be differen-"

"But things change." Violet says cutting her off. "Either way our time wasn't any better than theirs." Alexandra slumps in her chair in defeat on hearing this, motioning for Uriah to continue she feels her gaze wander back to Peter only to find him quickly looking away.

Her lips quirk upwards.

**Caleb's name is called in the next group. He moves confidently toward the exit. I don't need to wish him luck or assure him that he shouldn't be nervous. He knows where he belongs, and as far as I know, he always has.**

"I wish it was that simple." Caleb rubs his hands on his slacks remembering how nervous he really was. "I wish, I did wish you good luck." Tris smiles sadly at him.

**My earliest memory of him is from when we were four years old. He scolded me for not giving my jump rope to a little girl on the playground who didn't have anything to play with.**

"Bad way to first remember your brother." Zeke says. "I know right, I was just thinking that." Christina nods grinning.

"Right, OK, I think this needs clarification." Tris sits up. Violet waves her off, "Trust me you'll think everything in this book needs clarification."

"This _especially_ does I just want to give my defence," She continues suddenly feeling very determined and righteous. "Justify what, the rope?" Caleb questions eyebrows creasing.

"Yes actually; First off why should I give this girl my jump rope? Why'd she even come to the _play_ground with nothing to _play_ with? It's called a _playground_ for a reason." She crosses her arms raising an eyebrow challenging.

"Repeating an argument we had almost 12 years ago isn't going to change the fact, that you should have given it to her." Caleb shoots back.

Tris makes a sound of protest. "It was _my_ ro-"

"Honey." Her father interrupts. She waits for him to come to her defence, smiling smugly at the seemingly disapproving room. "You should've given it to her." She gives him a cold, scowl then looks at her mom for help but she only nods in agreement. "Everyone's a critique." Tris mumbles leaning back in her seat.

Uriah glances at Tris, who looks defeated thinking the discussion.

**He doe-**

"It was my rope," She repeats to the room, with finality.

_Or not._ Uriah stills mid word, watching amused at Tris renewed strength.

Theirs a mix of exasperated sighs and fascinated laughter through the room.

"Mine and this girl comes from absolutely nowhere and suddenly I have to sacrifice my play time. You know what it doesn't matter because I got to play with it anyway."

"You're literally making yourself sound heartless." Alexandra says, while the rest of the room silently laughs. "Fine, Caleb I'm sorry it was Faire Talhorns' fault anyway." The room bursts out in laughter.

"Y- You remember... her name?"

"Never forget your first enemy, Robert." Once everyone calms, Uriah and Alexandra taking the longest they settle back into the book. Tris still feeling slightly rueful.

**He doesn't lecture me often anymore, but I have his look of disapproval memorized.**

"Ouch." Tori smirks.

"I don't have a specific look of disapproval..." Caleb argues. "Yes you do, it's a perfect combination of mom and dad's disapproving look." Her parents exchange a meaningful look, but their masks are on too quickly for anyone to notice.

**I have tried to explain to him that my instincts are not the same as his—it didn't even enter my mind to give my seat to the Candor man on the bus—but he doesn't understand.**

"I tried too, it was just simpler for me I knew the rules so I just abided to them." Caleb defends himself. "Well, you've been memorizing books in secret your whole life Caleb so, it's different."

He sighs. "You just had to do what you're supposed to."

**"Just do what you're supposed to,"**

"Are you mimicking me?" Uriah buries his face in the book in an attempt to hide his amusement. "I'm just reading the book Caca."

"Don't call me C-"

**he always says. It is that easy for him. It should be that easy for me. My stomach wrenches. I close my eyes and keep them closed until ten minutes later, when Caleb sits down again.**

**_"So how'd it go?" I ask curiosity coursing through me. "I'm Erudite," He whispers but the whole room is silent and everyone stares at him, as if he's spoken words of death. Which in my case he might as well have._**

"I didn't say that." Caleb says confused. "And I most certainly did not think that." The Dauntless adds.

Lynn stretches over to try and see the book. "Is that even in their?"

"No; I just wanted to add a bit of drama."

"Uriah!" The room choruses. "Fine, this is what really happened... **He is plaster-pale. He pushes his palms along his legs like I do when I wipe off sweat, and when he brings them back, his fingers shake. I open my mouth to ask him something,**

"So you _were_ going to ask how it went." Four states. "I was going to ask if he was okay," Tris says vaguely. "Obviously."

**but the words don't come. I am not allowed to ask him about his results, and he is not allowed to tell me.**

"You're a horrible liar." Eric says.

_Fooled you once. _Tris wants to smirk at the memory of her "crush" talk with Eric, but settles for internal satisfaction.

**An Abnegation volunteer speaks the next round of names. Two from Dauntless, two from Erudite, two from Amity, two from Candor, and then: "From Abnegation: Susan Black and Beatrice Prior."**

**I get up because I'm supposed to, but if it were up to me, I would stay in my seat for the rest of time. I feel like there is a bubble in my chest that expands more by the second, threatening to break me apart from the inside. I follow Susan to the exit. The people I pass probably can't tell us apart. We wear the same clothes and we wear our blond hair the same way.**

Susan frowns at this, not the description she was imagining after years of friendship.

**The only difference is that Susan might not feel like she's going to throw up,**

"I did, but not for the same reasons." She says sweetly. "I was more worried the test was going to be painful or something, I knew I wanted to stay in Abnegation."

**and from what I can tell, her hands aren't shaking so hard she has to clutch the hem of her shirt to steady them.**

"So you were watching her! Les-be hon-"

"Uriah! It was just for a second I looking for anyone who looked as nervous and sick as I felt. He cocks an eyebrow at her but continues reading.

**Waiting for us outside the cafeteria is a row of ten rooms. They are used only for the aptitude tests, so I have never been in one before. Unlike the other rooms in the school, they are separated, not by glass, but by mirrors.**

"Why not bricks, plaster, stone." Violet murmurs absently.

**I watch myself, pale and terrified, walking toward one of the doors. Susan grins nervously at me as she walks into room 5, and I walk into room 6, where a Dauntless woman waits for me.**

**She is not as severe-looking as the young Dauntless I have seen. She has small, dark, angular eyes and wears a black blazer—like a man's suit—and jeans. It is only when she turns to close the door that I see a tattoo on the back of her neck, a black-and-white hawk with a red eye.**

_So she gets a big description._ Susan thinks glumly._ The one who you've known for l5 seconds._ Suddenly, the blondes horrified and scolds herself for thinking so selfishly, she shouldn't wonder about herself in such an important situation that was about Beatrice- Tris.

She decides then that she'll concentrate on the book instead of her own significance, as far as she's aware though she doesn't play a huge role in Tris's life after Abnegation. She grips her note book with improved determination, banishing all vanity from her mind

**If I didn't feel like my heart had migrated to my throat, I would ask her what it signifies. It must signify something.**

"You were always the curious one." Tori notes.

**Mirrors cover the inner walls of the room. I can see my reflection from all angles: the gray fabric obscuring the shape of my back, my long neck, my knobby-knuckled hands, red with a blood blush.**

_She always describes herself badly._ Four thinks to himself sneaking a glance at Tris, who seems to be concentrating intensely on her hands.

**The ceiling glows white with light. In the center of the room is a reclined chair, like a dentist's, with a machine next to it. It looks like a place where terrible things happen. "Don't worry," the woman says, "it doesn't hurt." Her hair is black and straight, but in the light I see that it is streaked with gray.**

**"Have a seat and get comfortable," she says. "My name is Tori."**

**Clumsily I sit in the chair and recline, putting my head on the headrest. The lights hurt my eyes. Tori busies herself with the machine on my right. I try to focus on her and not on the wires in her hands. "Why the hawk?" I blurt out as she attaches an electrode to my forehead. "Never met a curious Abnegation before," she says, raising her eyebrows at me. I shiver, and goose bumps appear on my arms. My curiosity is a mistake, a betrayal of Abnegation values.**

"I've constantly wondered what made you change Tris, I think I'm slowly seeing why you changed to Dauntless, Beat- Tris..." Andrew Prior whispers in the soundless room.

Marcus sniffs appalled. "How can you say such a thing?"

"The fact that she loves the way we live and still tries to abide to it in small ways is good," He pauses. "It's all we can really ask for as parents, that our children keep what we teach them even if they're in a different faction. Either way the decisions done."

Tris smiles warmly. "Thank you dad." She wipes at her eyes quickly. She couldn't believe her dad finally -kind of- accepted her choice to change. The image she once had of him of disappointment, betrayal and sadness is replaced with him right now and is permanently stuck it in her skull with hope.

**Humming a little, she presses another electrode to my forehead and explains, "In some parts of the ancient world, the hawk symbolized the sun. Back when I got this, I figured if I always had the sun on me, I wouldn't be afraid of the dark." I try to stop myself from asking another question, but I can't help it.** "**You're afraid of the dark?"**

"You're afraid of the dark?" Zeke repeats with a hint of disbelieve. "You know that was a long time ago."

**"I was afraid of the dark," she corrects me. She presses the next electrode to her own forehead, and attaches a wire to it. She shrugs. "Now it reminds me of the fear I've overcome." She stands behind me. I squeeze the armrests so tightly the redness pulls away from my knuckles. **

**She tugs wires toward her, attaching them to me, to her, to the machine behind her. Then she passes me a vial of clear liquid. "Drink this," she says.**

**"What is it?" My throat feels swollen. I swallow hard. "What's going to happen?"**

"Jeez, you might as well be an Erudite with all these questions."

"Not an option." Tris chuckles dryly.

**"Can't tell you that. Just trust me." I press air from my lungs and tip the contents of the vial into my mouth. My eyes close.**

Peter and Eric lean in, in anticipation. They've both been waiting for this moment.

**When they open, an instant has passed, but I am somewhere else. I stand in the school cafeteria again, but all the long tables are empty, and I see through the glass walls that it's snowing. On the table in front of me are two baskets. In one is a hunk of cheese, and in the other, a knife the length of my forearm. Behind me, a woman's voice says, "Choose."**

**"Why?" I ask.**

"Only you would ask that." Four comments bluntly.

**"Choose," she repeats. I look over my shoulder, but no one is there. I turn back to the baskets. "What will I do with them?"**

**"Choose!" she yells.** **When she screams at me, my fear disappears and stubbornness replaces it. I scowl and cross my arms.**

Theirs a burst of laughter. "Real mature Tris."

"She screamed at me, last I checked simulated people aren't supposed to do that."

"When last did you check?" Will questions sounding high and mighty. She glares at him. "I meant it doesn't hurt to have manners, all she had to do was explain."

**"Have it your way," she says.**

"I think you somehow managed to make a simulated women angry." Cara sighs. Caleb begins laughing. Uriah wonders hesitantly about giving away how difficult he was for his simulated women, before choosing; but simply sighs and continues.

**The baskets disappear. I hear a door squeak and turn to see who it is. I see not a "who" but a "what": A dog with a pointed nose stands a few yards away from me. It crouches low and creeps toward me, its lips peeling back from its white teeth. A growl gurgles from deep in its throat, and I see why the cheese would have come in handy. Or the knife. But it's too late now.**

"Obviously."

**I think about running, but the dog will be faster than me.**

"I thought of running too." Susan says.

**I can't wrestle it to the ground.**

"I did." Eric says.

**My head pounds. I have to make a decision. If I can jump over one of the tables and use it as a shield—no, I am too short to jump over the tables, and not strong enough to tip one over. The dog snarls, and I can almost feel the sound vibrating in my skull.**

"You're so observant." Natalie smiles at her daughter. "I thought of all those tactics, but of course I chose something as well."

**My biology textbook said that dogs can smell fear because of a chemical secreted by human glands in a state of duress, the same chemical a dog's prey secretes.**

"Not the time to think of school." Uriah shakes his head in disappointment. "It's actually the perfect time to think of school." Violet declares.

**Smelling fear leads them to attack. The dog inches toward me, its nails scraping the floor. I can't run. I can't fight. Instead I breathe in the smell of the dog's foul breath and try not to think about what it just ate.**

"Simulated animals should really smell better." Christina nods agreeing with herself. "Yeah, why do they smell so bad?" Will questions.

"To make it more realistic." Zeke says as a matter of fact.

"Yeah, OK." Alexandra laughs. "One day I'm going too trapped in a white room with a dog and a bunch tables." Everyone chuckles.

**There are no whites in its eyes, just a black gleam. What else do I know about dogs? I shouldn't look it in the eye. That's a sign of aggression. I remember asking my father for a pet dog when I was young, and now, staring at the ground in front of the dog's paws, I can't remember why. **

Theirs a low, stiff bubble of laughter.

**It comes closer, still growling. If staring into its eyes is a sign of aggression, what's a sign of submission? My breaths are loud but steady. I sink to my knees. The last thing I want to do is lie down on the ground in front of the dog—making its teeth level with my face—but it's the best option I have. I stretch my legs out behind me and lean on my elbows. The dog creeps closer, and closer, until I feel its warm breath on my face. My arms are shaking.**

**It barks in my ear, and I clench my teeth to keep from screaming. Something rough and wet touches my cheek. The dog's growling stops, and when I lift my head to look at it again, it is panting. It licked my face. I frown and sit on my heels. The dog props its paws up on my knees and licks my chin.**

Most of the room breathe out a sigh of relief and straighten from their tensed, leaned in position. "Wait how did you do that? I didn't even know that was an option." Caleb raises an eyebrow. "I didn't know dogs responded to that and I know a lot about animals."

Not many seem to notice Caleb's question, writing in their notepads but those that do stare at Tris pensively who shrugs it off. "Well Caleb, you know a lot about everything." It works everyone's soon laughing

**I cringe, wiping the drool from my skin, and laugh. "You're not such a vicious beast, huh?"**

"Ugh dog drool, nasty." Christina cringes.

**I get up slowly so I don't startle it, but it seems like a different animal than the one that faced me a few seconds ago. I stretch out a hand, carefully, so I can draw it back if I need to. The dog nudges my hand with its head. I am suddenly glad I didn't pick up the knife. I blink, and when my eyes open, a child stands across the room wearing a white dress.**

**She stretches out both hands and squeals, "Puppy!" As she runs toward the dog at my side, I open my mouth to warn her, but I am too late. **

**The dog turns. Instead of growling, it barks and snarls and snaps, and its muscles bunch up like coiled wire. About to pounce. I don't think, I just jump;**

"What?!"

**I hurl my body on top of the dog, wrapping my arms around its thick neck. My head hits the ground. The dog is gone, and so is the little girl. Instead I am alone—in the testing room, now empty.**

**I turn in a slow circle and can't see myself in any of the mirrors.** **I push the door open and walk into the hallway, but it isn't a hallway; it's a bus, and all the seats are taken.**

"A bus..." Marcus murmurs thoughtfully. "That changed too suddenly." Will musses.

**I stand in the aisle and hold on to a pole. Sitting near me is a man with a newspaper. I can't see his face over the top of the paper, but I can see his hands. They are scarred, like he was burned, and they clench around the paper like he wants to crumple it. "Do you know this guy?" he asks.**

**He taps the picture on the front page of the newspaper. The headline reads: "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" I stare at the word "murderer." It has been a long time since I last read that word, but even its shape fills me with dread.**

"What, we get murder all the time it's so, so common." Alexandra laughs weakly at the morbid joke. She stops abruptly at the horrified glances. "I know sad times."

**In the picture beneath the headline is a young man with a plain face and a beard. I feel like I do know him, though I don't remember how. And at the same time, I feel like it would be a bad idea to tell the man that. "Well?" I hear anger in his voice. "Do you?"**

**A bad idea—no, a very bad idea. My heart pounds and I clutch the pole to keep my hands from shaking, from giving me away. If I tell him I know the man from the article, something awful will happen to me. But I can convince him that I don't.**

** I can clear my throat and shrug my shoulders—but that would be a lie. I clear my throat. "Do you?" he repeats. I shrug my shoulders.**

"Stop having constipated shoulders and answer." Christina shakes the blonde by the shoulders as if she was still in the simulation and this would help.

**"Well?" A shudder goes through me. My fear is irrational; this is just a test, it isn't real.**

"It isn't real." Eric repeats in curiosity and surprise.

"It isn't real." The murmur goes around the room as they all repeat it, in realization. "I've never thought of that during the tests I always thought of it as if it was a real situation." Will says, most people in the room nod.

"You're supposed to do that." Caleb answers. "It's meant for that, to teach us how to handle real life situations that's hard to control."

"Have you always looked at it like that Tris?" Cara asks. Tris knew Cara didn't know she was making the situation worse but she couldn't help but be angry at her, because as she posed the question her hand was jotting down something.

"No," She says bluntly. "I haven't."

**"Nope," I say, my voice casual. "No idea who he is."**

"Liar!" Uriah shouts. "OK I lied too." He adds. "But nevertheless liar!"

"The smart choice was to say no." Zeke says thoughtfully. "The honest maybe noble thing was to say yes."

**He stands, and finally I see his face. He wears dark sunglasses and his mouth is bent into a snarl. His cheek is rippled with scars, like his hands. He leans close to my face. His breath smells like cigarettes. Not real, I remind myself. Not real.**

"That is so strange." Marlene's' hands do a I've-just-been-mind-blown gesture. "I need to remember that mantra."

"You're changing the whole objective of this." Cara mumbles angrily. She repeats it louder so everyone can hear her. "Treat it real, it could really happen."

"When am I ever going to be an assistant in a murder?" Tris asks incredulous.

"Not that!" Both the girls are fuming now. "All of it, you probably do treat them all like that. You're defeating the whole purpose."

"You're a defeating purpose," Tris shoots back lamely. "Why don't you handle them your way and I'll handle them mine."

"Why don't you shove that your way, my way junk up your long nos-"

"Ladies, ladies." Uriah says in between laughter. "You're both pretty now can we continue." The room stare at the frowning girls in obvious amusement, until they both look away from each other. "That was useless." Peter mumbles.

**"You're lying," he says. "You're lying!"**

**"I am not."**

Christina giggles. "Oh how proper you sound Tris."

**"I can see it in your eyes." I pull myself up straighter. "You can't."**

**"If you know him," he says in a low voice, "you could save me. You could save me!"**

"Aaw shame, I told him I know him." Susan says in a pitying voice. Robert gives her a surprising look. "What, we're reading her mind I figured I should say some secrets as well."

**I narrow my eyes. "Well," I say. I set my jaw. "I don't."**

"Harsh ending." Uriah says closing the book, with a slap. "I need to un- hear what I just heard."

Alexandra and Violet exchange a look, which speaks volumes of trained coordination before Violet speaks, "How about a break and some food?"

"Great I'm starved," Uriah says abandoning the book on the couch and bee lining it to the bathroom. "I think this should be called One- Sided Questions; with a question mark at the end."

"Why?"

He looks at the book, then his eyes dart to Violet and Alexandra then sweep the rest of the room. "A lot of things left unanswered, a lot left unsaid and everyone seems to have a billion questions they think they're the only ones who want to ask." He says as if it's obvious before darting in the bathroom, leaving a tense room.

* * *

**_Thank you to all my new followers and favorites, I feel the looove. Sorry for spelling errors. _**

**_Also is it stimulated or simulated? I keep getting confused with that._**

**_Until next time xoxoIvory outxoxo_**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Inconclusivity, Revelations and Awkward Moments**

"I don't want to go, you go!" Alexandra whispers to Violet. "I am not leaving you here alone with your little crush." Violet answers handing her back the purple balls.

"I won't try anything." She states pleading. "You know I can be a professional when it comes down to it. It's not a crush anyway. He looks like my favorite actor, and I'm undeniably attracted to his whole evil- then not demeanor."

"Fine." She agrees. Alexandra quickly thrusts the balls in her hands and takes a few steps back. "Don't crush them and kill me." Violet frowns, before making to leave the room before adding loudly. "I'll be back soon."

Uriah rushes in from the bathroom. "Oh, bring burgers!"

"I'll bring something even better." She says leaving theirs a whirring sound in the next room which lasts a second then silence.

* * *

The whole room stares at the meal in confusion and astonishment. "What is that?" Eric asks finally tilting his head slightly.

"It's a baked dish," Alexandra starts staring at the platter with everyone else as Violet cuts it in slices. "From a place far from here." She opts for that instead of saying it's from Italy, which none here are familiar with. "Wide, flat pasta strips," she continues finally assisting by handing out the plates. "With meat or vegetable if you prefer, cheese and tomato sauce."

"How peculiar." Cara says taking a plate from Will. "_Cheese? _With pasta _and_ meat? Sounds to put it simply; gross."

"It great and very famous, well at least it used to be." Alexandra corrects herself. "What's it called?" Caleb asks bringing the plate up to eye level and analysing each layer.

"Lasagne." Violet declares.

"Well, if no one's going to try first." Uriah takes a huge bite. Everyone stares following his movements then wait expectantly. "This is the best thing I've ever tasted!" He takes another, and another. "Ever." He repeats it over, and over in between bites.

One by one everyone tentatively takes bites from their plates, the Abnegation hesitate the most never being given most of this food in such assortment or at all.

"Oh wow."

"This is really good."

"Delicious." Alexandra smiles her and Violet had the food selected beforehand, it was decided to open them up to different varieties of food. The lasagne was her choice.

Soon everyone separates chatting amongst themselves; The Priors having a small reunion, Zeke, Four and Tori begin whispering amongst themselves, Eric and Violet seemed to be having a glaring competition while Alexandra babbles endlessly to Peter who actually smiles occasionally- well, at least she thinks it's a smile. The rest wondered around through the other doors exploring.

"Four could Violet and I talk to you for a second?" Alexandra asks suddenly tearing her eyes away from Peter. Four nods tentatively and the three make their way to the kitchen a pair of wide, round eyes following their every move. A few minutes later they emerge Four pale as ever, Violet and Alexandra with matching worried expressions.

Four glances anxiously at Tris who gives him a questioning glance before sitting back down. After 30 minutes and Uriah's had his 3rd plate of food everyone agrees to begin reading again. "I'll read." Christina says eagerly.

Tris knows what's to come and squirms slightly in her seat. "Maybe we should skip this chapter."

"Why?" Eric and Peter ask simultaneously. "Why do we need to read every single part of it anyway?" She snaps realising her irrationality.

"We've read the books an-" Alexandra starts. "Wait, what? Did you just say books?" Christina blinks. "How many are their?"

"Only 3, but..." Violet answers. "We won't read them all." Alexandra quickly buts in.

"Fine, then just read." Tris sighs. Uriah chucks the book at Christina and she flips it open to chapter 3. "I'll decide the name after."

**CHAPTER THREE**

**I WAKE TO sweaty palms and a pang of guilt in my chest.**

"At least you feel guilty about lying." Susan notes. "Oh, how about; Chapter I haven't decided on a name yet."

**I am lying in the chair in the mirrored room. When I tilt my head back, I see Tori behind me. She pinches her lips together and removes electrodes from our heads.**

Eric's hand inches towards his knife hidden in his halter and Peter leans forward in anticipation.

**I wait for her to say something about the test—that it's over, or that I did well, although how could I do poorly on a test like this?—but she says nothing, just pulls the wires from my forehead.**

"Not a good sign." Will muses. Christina nudges him in the side, eyes never leaving the book.

**I sit forward and wipe my palms off on my slacks. I had to have done something wrong, even if it only happened in my mind. Is that strange look on Tori's face because she doesn't know how to tell me what a terrible person I am? I wish she would just come out with it.**

"So do we." Marlene adds. "I'm sure it was fine." Andrew says. Tris isn't sure if he's trying to reassure her or himself.

**"That," she says, "was perplexing. Excuse me, I'll be right back."**

_"Perplexing?"_ Will says thoughtfully.

_"Perplexing?"_ Caleb repeats. "Would you say that's a good sign or bad sign?" Will looks at Tris now. "I'm not sure."

**Perplexing?**

"Haha, you know you think a lot like an Erudite." Uriah says. Tris fakes a smile nodding meekly.

**I bring my knees to my chest and bury my face in them. I wish I felt like crying, because the tears might bring me a sense of release, but I don't.**

Tris hates to reveal her moments of weakness to everyone.

**How can you fail a test you aren't allowed to prepare for? As the moments pass, I get more nervous.**

"Where could you possibly have gone?" Eric looks suspiciously at Tori. "You know the rules don't leave them alone." She looks at the ground then back at him, defiantly. "You'll find out soon enough."

Eric's hand rests at the side of his boot as if scratching an itch, "I guess I will." Four watches him closely tapping his foot nervously. Violet and Alexandra had conversed with him on 3 subjects, first was a warning he was already aware of beware and watch, Eric. Second was to reveal to everyone about his and Tris's relationship.

**I have to wipe off my hands every few seconds as the sweat collects—or maybe I just do it because it helps me feel calmer. What if they tell me that I'm not cut out for any faction?**

"Has that ever happened?" Uriah asks taking a huge forkful of lasagne from his 4th plate. "Hardly, not even a handful." Tori shrugs. "Though the reactions..." She trails off sounding horrified.

**I would have to live on the streets, with the factionless. I can't do that. To live factionless is not just to live in poverty and discomfort; it is to live divorced from society, separated from the most important thing in life: community.**

"They sure drill that in your head." Alexandra comments dryly, arms crossed petulantly. "Fitting in isn't the most important thing in the world, you know."

"How is it not? We've grown up in this community, family that teaches us loyalty to our faction. Since birth, faction before blood." Caleb says. "If we grew up in your time, or _one of_ your times we wouldn't be the people we are today."

"Divergence must be so bizarre." Cara says suddenly. "Knowing that they're the only ones who don't… _won't_ conform." The group looks contemplating.

"I don't think it's really their choice." Alexandra adds. "They_ can't _conform, and isn't that somehow… remarkable." No one answers.

"Or not."

**My mother told me once that we can't survive alone, but even if we could, we wouldn't want to. Without a faction, we have no purpose and no reason to live.** **I shake my head. I can't think like this. I have to stay calm.**

"Are you having a panic attack?" Caleb asks. "Or hyperventilating."

"…_Yes._"

**Finally the door opens, and Tori walks back in. I grip the arms of the chair. "Sorry to worry you," Tori says. She stands by my feet with her hands in her pockets. She looks tense and pale.**

The different factions all automatically lean in, their heads buzzing with questions; faces filled with confusion and excitement. "Pale?" Eric breathes. "Tense? Sounds like bad news."

**"Beatrice, your results were..."**

Christina stops mid-sentence and stares at Tris in utter shock, her face flickering with an array of emotions shock, confusion, anger… _horror?_ Time seems to stop for hours until she finally breaths out one single word.

"_Inconclusive._"

The room is silent, a loud clash of a glass making contact with wood, and splattering into tiny pieces snaps everyone back into reality.

Then it happens, Eric and Peter all at once. Eric pulls the knife from his boot hurtling it to Tris's head she ducks with seconds to spare but he's out of his chair lunging towards her. Four who's been waiting for this to happen tackles him to the ground. "She's Divergent, you should be helping me not protecting her! You bastard." Eric spits in his face, kneeing him in the stomach.

Peter who looks like a maniac trying to escape from Alexandra's strong grip starts shouting at her. "You cheater! I knew it this whole time! I knew I should've reported you. No I should've killed you when I had the chance." Lynn and Will launch at Peter to help Alexandra who's fighting grip was slowly trailing.

Violet looks at the two outraged men calmly before scanning the rest of the room. Uriah, Four and Zeke hold Eric back who ranting never stops, Susan seems to be on the brim of tears, Marcus, Andrew and Natalie forming what seems like a barrier between Tris whose stance is strong, face stony. The rest of the room share almost the same expressions; disbelieve, horror, realization...

"I'll get you Stiff, I swear t- _wait, a moment_ but you're the one that changed_ fucking_ her results right?" Eric in an overwhelming rage sends his foot flying into Uriah's gut who connects roughly with the ground, clenching his stomach. Still fighting against the two guys his eyes dart glaringly between Tori and Tris.

"Traitor, congratulations, you're both factionless now. Ha, no really congratulations." He grins maliciously. "Even better I'll throw you both into the chasm after this is over."

Eric releases himself forcefully before leaving the room in a fury. Violet raises in tow, while Alexandra reaches for the pouch bag. She slips something in her pocket before facing Peter.

"I'm sorry for doing this Peter."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" The needle pierces his skin, painfully, and his eyes only have time to widen slightly before he collapses on Will and Lynn, who gladly hand him over to her. "It won't last long." She explains unflinchingly beside the weight of Peter. "It's just used to calm people, doesn't hurt them."

She takes another needle out from her pocket, chucking it at Violet who waits at the kitchen door Eric left through expectantly. Gunshots, swearing and clatter of kitchen utensils are heard before Violet comes out dragging Eric's body. "Damn thing, found my guns and tried to kill me."

Alexandra and Violet tie the two men their single chairs before facing everyone. "Sorry you all had to see that, but we knew something along the lines would happe-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Christina asks commotion all but forgotten. The tenseness, and fear in the room slowly falls to awkwardness. "I mean I'm your best friend, _we're_ your best friends." She gestures to Will and the rest of the gang. "Why didn't you trust us?"

"Christina, did you not just see what happened? Imagine this but 100 times worse because everyone would want to kill me. I wouldn't be able to run or hide, the fear consumed me. I'm sorry and I did think of telling at least, after the final test... _possibly._" She trails off.

"This is unbelievable!" her friend crosses her arms petulantly looking away. "Any other secrets you want to share?"

Tris just manages to stop her eyes from darting to Four, though her immediate is too not tell them anything. Theirs a long pause and an obvious internal struggle on Tris face before Christina adds frustratingly. "_Before_ we find out."

"Um… the rules say that we're not allowed to reveal anything about the future unless told otherwise." Cara interjects, raising an eyebrow at Alexandra and Violet. "Exception granted." Is the two agent's immediate answer.

Four's opens his mouth to speak when Tris blurts, "Nothing!" The flash of frustration and disappointment on Four's face confuses her, so she shoots him a favorable smile as sure she did them both a favor. "Expect, that I'm sorry, dad and Caleb I wish I had a chance to tell you before but..." Caleb still looks shocked and her dad seemed to be giving her the silent treatment, while deep in thought.

"Your father need's some time." Natalie says holding her husband hand which rarely happens in public. "No?" Alexandra says confused, gaining looks. "Mr Prior, should know Mrs Prior told you." He shakes his head face filled with confusion. "Oh no, you're supposed to know." She insists voice verging on worry.

"Something changed." Violet states, then huffs. "I think _I_ need some time too."

"I think we all do." Marlene agrees leaning back in her seat and letting out a huge gush of air. "How about another break." Violet suggests the whole room agrees, with silent nods.

Tris had an extremely awkward break. She did a lot of talking, to her dad, her brother and Christina. She sat though patiently talking to all her friends, who seemed less scared of her and more curious about her Divergence. After an hour it seemed the group had finally accepted Tris's divergence, at least it seemed they did. Tris pretended not to notice the slightly skeptical, analyzing eyes of Cara, or Caleb's somber looks in her direction, when he was sure she wasn't looking. She tried to ignore Susan's scandalized face, her eyes obviously replaying the events that just took place just about wiping her, of her innocence and Robert's pitying stares as he consoled his sister.

She told herself everyone was OK and the situation was handled.

They cleaned up Four's wounds, bandaged Uriah's stomach and cleaned the broken plate on the floor, even un-stabbed the poor couch. They were already to start reading again that is until Peter and Eric woke up...

* * *

"What the..." Alexandra breathes a sigh of relief the tranquilizer wasn't supposed to last that long. "Peter, how do you feel?"

"What's going on?!" As if immune to the after effects of drowsiness and nausea he immediately starts struggling against the rope. "The more you struggle the tighter it gets," She informs as he winces in his seat. "Had to be done."

He snarls at her, before glaring at Tris still struggling. "No what has to be done can be done, if you untie me." She glares back not intimidated but worried about what he'd say. Peter had a way with words, he could make everyone turn against her in a matter of seconds.

_Just like Al. _She immediately clears her head of any thoughts of_ him_, he was vulnerable, and scared when Peter got to him and this room was filled with strong minded, understanding people. They wouldn't be turned so easily.

He looks around the room in shock. "Why aren't you guys doing anything? She didn't trust you, any of you with her secret. She was a whiz in the fear stage and didn't even tell you her way of getting through it."

"There is no way." Tris immediately insisted.

"What about and I quote 'This isn't real.'" He says adding the air quotes, besides his arms bound.

"That was just something that came to me I didn't thin-" "Exactly you didn't think about anyone but yourself!" He spat. Tris sat in furious silence she didn't need to convince him. She didn't care what Peter thought of her, she wasn't having this discussion again.

He continued. "Did you see how fast Christina looked at you as if you were someone else, they all turned on you faster than you could say _Divergent!_"

"That's enough Peter." Violet protests glaring. "No, you two can't just bound and violate someone? I'd like to file a complaint actually, I have rights."

"When you entered this room and took the notepad, you technically signed them away." She shrugged indifferently. "We do our job and if that involves violence every now and then it will be done."

"That's total bull, just who the hell do you think yo-"

"That's enough young man." Andrew speaks clearing his throat. "Now you listen hear, these ladies are just doing their job and I would very much appreciate if you didn't speak to my daughter like that you don't even know her."

Theirs an audible snort, and it doesn't come from Peter. "Isn't this grand." Eric says sarcastically. "Big dad defending his daughter. Why don't we all just go around the room and say a few things we love about the Stiff?" He snickers when no one replies, his eyes meet Four's steely scowl. "How about you Four? You sure defended her a few what hours? Minutes ago?" He rolls his neck around for a few seconds, the room watches him silently. "Sorry, I'm kind of out of it you know being stabbed in the neck, by the black bang jaguar over there." Violet gives him a condescending smirk in recognition of the nickname.

He gives her a bright, polished smile before turning back to Four. "Do you have a crush on our little initiate huh, or is she doing you?"

"Don't speak of her like that." Susan says surprising herself and the others at the absolute disgust in her voice. "Don't you know how disrespectful that is?!" He gives her a dominant glare. "To bad I don't care about what an_ Abnegation_ says about me." Eric's view of the Abnegation wouldn't falter, put them as low as the factionless. _They might as well be for what's coming to them._

"What has Tris ever done to you?" Mrs Prior asks. "She tries her best at everything it's not her fault she's special, and she always tries to think of others."

"And she's very trustful under all circumstances." Christina wraps an arm around her friend. "She's funny." Uriah adds. "And family- orientated." Caleb smiles. Peters' comments of disapproval go unheard. Four looks directly at Tris. "She's one of the bravest people I know." The whole room stares in shock but, his eyes focus on her.

"Well," Eric laughs, looking surprised when no one joins in. "If that doesn't scream secrets behind closed training rooms I honestly don't know what does." The room seemed ready for another row when a voice suddenly commanded silence. Heads turn to face none other than the one who's been silent through most of the book.

Marcus. Eaton. "_Please._ This isn't right. We're all from different factions, yes, but we should be able to finish this one book without having to argue in every chapter." His eyes scan the mixture of emotions in the room. "Let's just all calm down and finish this chapter." Tris stares at him in surprise, this act he had going was irritating her.

"Basically he's saying shut up, before I shoot you again." Violet adds glaring at Eric.

"Not exactl-"

"Look," She interrupts Marcus. "We have a certain deadline to finish this book and all of this," She gestures to Eric and Peter. "is putting us horribly behind schedule."

"So we need to finish two chapters now." Alexandra declares. "So we'll need you to be quicker, OK?" When met with silence Violet narrows her eyes at them.

"_OK?!_" They all nod, even Peter and Eric at the 'black bang jaguar.'

"Notepads and pens out! With the new revelation of Mr Prior, not knowing of Tris's Divergence we'll need top concentration."

"Um..." Christina trails nodding. She flips through the book, resting in her lap. "Where were we, ah right, I-N-C-O-N-C-L-U-S-I-V-E." Christina frowns raising the book to eye level.

Tris sighs. "_Christina_."

"Sorry, Peter got to me a bit."

**"Beatrice, your results were inconclusive," she says.**

"_Seriously_ Christina."

"I'm just reading," She snaps her face filled with humour. "Jeez!"

**"Typically, each stage of the simulation eliminates one or more of the factions, but in your case, only two have been ruled out."**

"Whoa you have three factions, who wants to bet one is Erudite." Uriah smirks. "You're so on." Will says. The Divergent smiles glad someone was lighting the mood.

**I stare at her. "Two?" I ask. My throat is so tight it's hard to talk.**

**"If you had shown an automatic distaste for the knife and selected the cheese, the simulation would have led you to a different scenario that confirmed your aptitude for Amity. That didn't happen, which is why Amity is out." Tori scratches the back of her neck.**

Tori thinks back to that day. _Yep, it was all immensely confusing._

**"Normally, the simulation progresses in a linear fashion, isolating one faction by ruling out the rest. The choices you made didn't even allow Candor, the next possibility, to be ruled out, so I had to alter the simulation to put you on the bus. And there your insistence upon dishonesty ruled out Candor." She half smiles. "Don't worry about that. Only the Candor tell the truth in that one."**

"Yes! Cough it up." Will begrudgingly goes over to the smirking man and slams a bill in his hand.

**One of the knots in my chest loosens. Maybe I'm not an awful person.**

"Maybe I'm not an awful person." Peter mimics in girlish voice several octaves higher than Tris's voice. "_How bloody innocent._" He scowls.

**"I suppose that's not entirely true. People who tell the truth are the Candor…and the Abnegation," she says. "Which gives us a problem." My mouth falls open. "On the one hand, you threw yourself on the dog rather than let it attack the little girl, which is an Abnegation-oriented response…but on the other, when the man told you that the truth would save him, you still refused to tell it. Not an Abnegation-oriented response."**

**She sighs. "Not running from the dog suggests Dauntless, but so does taking the knife, which you didn't do."**

Many stare at the book their faces verging on confusion. "You sure were a confusing one." Zeke chuckles dryly scratching the cusp of his neck. "Kind of got me glad I don't do the tests."

**She clears her throat and continues. "Your intelligent response to the dog indicates strong alignment with the Erudite. I have no idea what to make of your indecision in stage one, but—"**

**"Wait," I interrupt her. "So you have no idea what my aptitude is?"**

"I think she does." Caleb muses. "If she doesn't then I do."

**"Yes and no. My conclusion," she explains, "is that you display equal aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite. People who get this kind of result are…"**

Caleb nods at himself pompously, not bothering to announce his same results

**She looks over her shoulder like she expects someone to appear behind her.**

Some in the room mimicked her movement they were so engrossed. "Why would someone magically appear behind you?" Marlene laughs soon joined by most of the room. Tori shrugs not embarrassed in the slightest, her mind wondering to her brother. "You never know."

**"…are called…**

"Divergent." Uriah whispers in a creepy voice. "And it's up to you to save... _yo mama!_"

"Excuse me." Natalie says. "Sorry ma'am." Marlene gives him an amused look. "You were just waiting for that, weren't you?" He nods slyly whispering a "yes".

**Divergent." She says the last word so quietly that I almost don't hear it, and her tense, worried look returns. She walks around the side of the chair and leans in close to me.**

"Lesbian moment!" Uriah and Alexandra scream in unison.

Four looks amused, opposed from Tris's father and brother who pale. "No!" The two yell outraged. "In her dreams." Tori laughs. Lynn feels uneasy these jokes were making her feel slightly uncomfortable. She knew they were all in good humour, and manages to crack a smile when Marlene looked over at her.

**"Beatrice," she says,**

_"In a low voice filled with lust._" Uriah interrupts beginning to narrate the story his way. "'_I think I'm in love with you.'"_

Alexandra catches on and continues for him. _"I want make sweet Divergent love to you."_

_"And-"_

Peter effectively tells them to shut up. He's frustrated, uncomfortable and though he would never admit it a little jealous Alexandra isn't paying attention to him anymore. His mean reputation and all out lack of friends, did leave Peter lonely, even if he didn't realize it; didn't realize it yet.

**"under no circumstances should you share-"**

_"What we're about to do in this room."_ Uriah begins to laugh again.

**"that information with anyone. This is very important."**

**"We aren't supposed to share-"**

_"Our desire."_ The two laughing teens practically collapse. They were the only two laughing; though some in the room were fighting of their own laughter, from the ridiculousness of the two.

"Be quiet." Christina finally hisses impatiently.

**"our results." I nod. "I know that."**

**"No." Tori kneels next to the chair now and places her arms on the armrest. Our faces are inches apart.**

"Oh come on, this sentence is begging for it." Uriah bursts, Alexandra can only laugh in agreement holding back a snort. "Was her breath bad?" Uriah asks. "How close we talking?" Alexandra questions suggestively.

"We should call this section; Lesbian moments." He says. "No, let's call it Tori and me." She laughs. The two go silent under Christina's intense glare, after beats of silence she glances over at Tris.

"It's true though."

Tris takes moment from blushing red, and glaring at the two to glare at Christina. "Hey, not my fault you got a somewhat dirty mind." Alexandra thinks of all the 'dirty' mind moments to come and her eyes tear up, she laughs so hard.

"What is it Alex, come on don't leave me out." Uriah says already semi calm. "Yeah, Alex." Violet mimics with a pointed glare. "Something you want to add." It takes the auburn several seconds and a hiccup before she's able to speak.

"Nothing." She finally wheezes out after a few deep breathes. "I just think the dirty mind moments aren't over." Worried exchanges spiral through the room, all wondering how much uncontrollable laughter they could handle.

**"This is different. I don't mean you shouldn't share them now; I mean you should never share them with anyone, ever, no matter what happens. Divergence is extremely dangerous. You understand?"**

**I don't understand—how could inconclusive test results be dangerous?—but I still nod.**

"I thought you understood." Tori says obviously disappointed. "No wonder you still came looking for me." Uriah and Alexandra laugh again the same thought in their heads. She continues ignoring the two. "Tris, do you understand now?"

"Yes, it took a while it means I don't fit into the 'perfect' system we've created over the years. That I _stand out_." She says sparing a fleeting glance at the room's villains. Like most of the room's eyes that were on Tris glide away one remains Uriah, who besides keeping his emotions in check, feels his heart slightly deflates at her words.

**I don't want to share my test results with anyone anyway.**

"Did you tell someone, though?" Christina questions. "Yes, my mom and you'll find out who else later." Tris adds quickly. _Did I do the right thing telling him?_ She hopes so.

**"Okay." I peel my hands from the arms of the chair and stand. I feel unsteady. "I suggest," Tori says, "that you go home. You have a lot of thinking to do, and waiting with the others may not benefit you."**

**"I have to tell my brother where I'm** **going."**

Caleb shakes his head chuckling lightly. "After that information overload, that's what you want to do."

"I think I was in shock and wanted to see anything familiar."

**"I'll let him know." I touch my forehead and stare at the floor as I walk out of the room. I can't bear to look her in the eye.**

"I never said thank you." Tris realizes. "I'm sorry about that, you saved my life and I didn't even realize it." Tori shrugs it off. "You didn't know."

"I do now, so thank you..." She pauses. "For _everything._" _That sounds so suggestive…_ Uriah muses, exchanging a look of amusement with Alexandra who seems to think the same

Oblivious to the two, Tori smiles back. "You're welcome."

**I can't bear to think about the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow. It's my choice now, no matter what the test says. Abnegation. Dauntless. Erudite.**

"It wasn't that difficult was it? You already knew what you wanted." Robert said. "Not exactly I was debating until the point where I cut my hand with the knife." Tris breathes remembering how guilty she felt. "It was selfless against courage."

**Divergent.**

"That word's kind of cool." Marlene says thoughtfully. "_Divergent._" She says it in a low whisper; with a sort of mystical wonder as if the word held all your secrets and desires. "Oh my gosh!" Uriah shouts suddenly.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He looks at Alexandra, who's already laughing uncontrollably she can only nod slightly. "Have you guys ever noticed that Divergent sounds a lot like-" Uriah cuts himself off laughing as well. "What?" Tris asks wearily.

"_Die virgin!_" Alexandra finishes.

Tris' mouth drops open, theirs a heartbeat of a pause before the rest of the room bursts out in laughter. "Seriously!" She says in horror even her family was laughing at her; even the bastard Marcus. Just when it seems they will stop, one of them thinks of the word and it starts all over again, a long continuous loop of laughter.

Uriah raises his arm ruefully at Tris, like an old man scolding kids for playing on his lawn. "Die virgin!" He says in a frail impression of an old factionless man he once met.

"Okay, okay, ugh my stomach hurts." Christina cringes at the pain in her abdomen readying the book as the laughter dies down, and despite her face still flushed with laughter she snorts a last, 'die virgin' and starts reading.

**I decide not to take the bus.**

**Tris breathed a sigh of relieve. Despite the crudeness she appreciated the lightness, created by Uriah and Alexandra. It made a very serious situation, a little easier to handle if I get home early, my father will notice when he checks the house log at the end of the day,**

"Hmm." Her dad grumbles in his seat.

**and I'll have to explain what happened. Instead I walk. I'll have to intercept Caleb before he mentions anything to our parents, but Caleb can keep a secret.**

Tris adds, "I think we all know that. Mr Erudite." She thinks back on the books she saw in his room, that day. How clueless she had been.

**I walk in the middle of the road.** **The buses tend to hug the curb, so it's safer here. Sometimes, on the streets near my house, I can see places where the yellow lines used to be. We have no use for them now that there are so few cars.**

Alexandra pouts childishly. "Few cars?! That hurts when I turned 16 and I didn't have a car I was totally shunned."

"Why would you need cars?" Will asks. "It's kind of an essential in most worlds." She's surprised when some in the room write that down.

**We don't need stoplights, either, but in some places they dangle precariously over the road like they might crash down any minute.**

"I've never realized how dangerous that is." Marcus thinks aloud. "We must discuss it at our next meeting." He looks at Andrew, who nods.

**Renovation moves slowly through the city, which is a patchwork of new, clean buildings and old, crumbling ones.**

"How are the buildings and renovations in your time?" Caleb asks intrigued. "Well instead of explaining it let me show you." Alexandra says excitedly, she quickly drops a single purple ball on the floor and sticks her upper torso through the small portal. When she finds what she's searching for she emerges with a dark blue tablet. After taping a few buttons, the large almost forgotten TV lights up. It shows a huge bustling city, with tall buildings, skyscrapers and loads of people.

"Okay now what you see here is a city that suffered a massive natural disaster," The image shifted, it's still the city but with a great amount damage.

"Natural disaster?" Cara inquires eyebrows raised.

"The earth shook, an earthquake." She explains. The room looks taken aback at this new information. "Though unlike you, their problem was they rebuilt so quickly that it affected their ecosystem so much that it was hard to breathe." The room stared in astonishment at the images shifting from the people in masks, to images of different buildings.

"Soon the air became polluted from all the renovations and construction and they all began walking around with medical masks. Of course after a while people began to become sick so they had to fix it. So imagine if you could get them to come fix up this place, they'll probably be done in a few months. Instead of years, and years you guys took. Then gave up." Alexander finishes switching off the tablet, the TV going black.

"How fascinating," Caleb smiles brightly like a kid in a candy shop. "What was this place called?"

"Japan."

"How did they rebuild so quickly?"

"They used machinery, which the Erudite don't care enough about to reinstate. Imagine this place with all the extra space. The factions could spread out and the factionless could be sited or whatever to the other side of the city, and live in peace." Alexandra's wide smile falters at the incredulous looks thrown her way. Uriah being one of the few who grins at her.

"That's a wonderful thought…_ but_ it's been decades and I don't think that's a very probable outcome." Cara says. "Can I see that?" She doesn't wait for an answer extending her hand. Alexandra passes her the tablet. "Good luck figuring out my passw-"

"Got it... who's Miles Teller?" She asks looking up at Alexandra. "Nobody!" _Stupid, smart hacking Erudite. _"You all- well, most of you are the future you could possibly change this place for the better." She continues calmly. "Make the change you want to see."

"What if we don't want change?" Caleb says. "Everything is fine."

Alexandra shakes her head. "It can be better. Also, theirs already the change this thing with the Erudite and Abnegation."

"Just drop it Alex." Alexandra's face contorts. "B- But! If they, just!" She wipes at her hair that's fallen in her face by now, before standing up and leaving through to the kitchen. Theirs an awkward pause before Alexandra sighs, and gestures to Christina. Theirs an audible sound of pens to paper as Christina continues.

**Well most of the new buildings are next to the marsh, which used to be a lake a long time ago. The Abnegation volunteer agency my mother works for is responsible for most of those renovations.**

Susan opens her mouth to speak and closes it again. "What?" Caleb whispers to her. "That lake would look great if we filled it up." He smiles fondly at her for a second, before scowling. "Don't let Alexandra affect you so much." She frowns at him taken aback.

**When I look at the Abnegation lifestyle as an outsider, I think it's beautiful. When I watch my family move in harmony; when we go to dinner parties and everyone cleans together afterward without having to be asked; when I see Caleb help strangers carry their groceries, I fall in love with this life all over again.**

Her mother and father exchange a sad smile.

**It's only when I try to live it myself that I have trouble. It never feels genuine.**

Christina rubs her back sympathetically with her elbow. "I'm sure you were a great Abnegation." Tris smiles a little but shakes her head, shaking off her friends elbow digging into her back.

**But choosing a different faction means I forsake my family. Permanently.**

"That was the reason?" Her dad asked. "You didn't want to leave us."

"Of course I didn't want to leave you, any of you. I loved the way of Abnegation." Tris explains gesturing to Caleb and her mom. "It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make." Her father seems almost presently surprised.

**Just past the Abnegation sector of the city is the stretch of building skeletons and broken sidewalks that I now walk through. There are places where the road has completely collapsed, revealing sewer systems and empty subways that I have to be careful to avoid, and places that stink so powerfully of sewage and trash that I have to plug my nose.**

"That's absolutely disgusting, why don't you guys clean that part up?" Violet questions scrunching her nose in disgust.

"We tried but, the factions agreed it was too dangerous." Marcus said.

**This is where the factionless live.**

Alexandra looks shocked for a minute but doesn't say anything.

**Because they failed to complete initiation into whatever faction they chose, they live in poverty, doing the work no one else wants to do. They are janitors and construction workers and garbage collectors; they make fabric and operate trains and drive buses. In return for their work they get food and clothing, but, as my mother says, not enough of either.**

Alexandra close to tears feels her composure slipping and hangs on to the little she has left. They cannot know. Tobias already knows.

I cannot have another strike for being emotionally compromised.

**I see a factionless man standing on the corner up ahead. He wears ragged brown clothing and skin sags from his jaw. He stares at me, and I stare back at him, unable to look away.**

"H- how are you... unable to... look away?" Caleb questions unsure. "He was just staring at me, and his eyes were so intense and he looked so helpless what was I supposed to do." She argues.

"Uh, look away."

**"Excuse me," he says. His voice is raspy. "Do you have something I can eat?" I feel a lump in my throat. A stern voice in my head says, Duck your head and keep walking. No. I shake my head. I should not be afraid of this man. He needs help and I am supposed to help him.**

Her mom and dad nod approvingly.

**"Um…yes," I say. I reach into my bag. My father tells me to keep food in my bag at all times for exactly this reason. I offer the man a small bag of dried apple slices.**

"Wow that sounds delicious." Peter says sarcastically. "Dried apple slices. You can tell the Abnegation really care." He receives a cold glare from Tris in answer.

**He reaches for them, but instead of taking the bag, his hand closes around my wrist.**

People in the room visibly stiffen. A low "whoa" travels through the room.

"Nothing happened," Tris says, she had forgotten about that day. It just left me a bit frazzled."

**He smiles at me. He has a gap between his front teeth. "My, don't you have pretty eyes," he says.**

"Can you say creepo." Uriah sings. "Oh jeez, I have no idea what I would do, if I was still in Candor." Christina says awkwardly.

**"It's a shame the rest of you is so plain."**

"Ouch." Peter snorts. Uriah starts laughing. "I'm sorry he's just so rude." No one knew if he was talking about the factionless man or Peter.

**My heart pounds. I tug my hand back, but his grip tightens.**

"Punch the douche." Lynn says getting tense. Susan looks taken back. "Violence is not the answer, keep tugging and ask him to let you go."

**I smell something acrid and unpleasant on his breath.**

"Maybe you should try giving toothbrushes." Eric mumbles.

**"You look a little young to be walking around by yourself, dear," he says. I stop tugging, and stand up straighter. I know I look young; I don't need to be reminded.**

"Haha, you're so funny when you angry." Robert says laughing. Christina and Uriah join. "She looks like a kitten." Tris huffs and most of the room joins in on the laughter.

**"I'm older than I look," I retort. "I'm sixteen." His lips spread wide, revealing a gray molar with a dark pit in the side. I can't tell if he's smiling or grimacing. "Then isn't today a special day for you? The day before you choose?"**

**"Let go of me," I say.**

"Sweetheart," Tris's mom looks at her worried. "Did this used to happen often?" She shakes her head. "That was the first time."

"You should have told us though, this is why you don't walk home alone." Her father scolds. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore," Marlene butts in. "She'd beat the hell out of them."

"Not something an Abnegation father wants to hear." Tris mumbles in explanation to her fathers horror stricken face. Alexandra looks pale.

**I hear ringing in my ears. My voice sounds clear and stern—not what I expected to hear. I feel like it doesn't belong to me. I am ready. I know what to do. I picture myself bringing my elbow back and hitting him. I see the bag of apples flying away from me. I hear my running footsteps.**

"You wouldn't really do that would you?" Susan asks surprised. "If I needed to I would."

**I am prepared to act.** **But then he releases my wrist, takes the apples,**

Four immediately relaxes and releases a sharp breath. Tris takes notices silently. "Oh my," Natalie says. "How's your wrist?"

"It was a long time ago, I'm fine."

Alexandra looks at Tris as if she's a monster. "Would you really have punched a homeless man?" Tris feels almost guilty for her thoughts, but it quickly melts. "Factionless," She corrects. "He was harassing me, and I was scared."

"Obviously not, if you were so quick to jump to beating hi-"

"Alexandra, nothing happened calm down." Everyone looks surprised to see this come from Four. "What?" Alexandra whispers as if stricken and glares a solid few seconds at the room before silently pushing out of her chair, and running out through the kitchen door. _She hasn't changed a bit… _Four mentally sighs.

The room stares at the door confused. Alexandra doesn't come back.

When heads turn to Violet she states very formally. "Any private information about me and my partner are foremost not allowed to be discussed." The room is silent again. Christina's the first to shake out of her daze. "Uh, we should continue then."

**and says, "Choose wisely, little girl."**

"That was intense." Christina says handing Will the book. "Most dramatic chapter yet, on the bright side I figured out a name." Tris gives her a look. "What?"

Christina grins proudly. "Inconclusive."

"Good name, actually." Zeke nods. "Should we wait for Alexandra?" Tori questions eyeing the door. "No let's continue." Violet says without hesitance.

* * *

_**Ending it here, thanks loyal followers and favorites.**_


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Inconlusive**

"That was long," Uriah drags. "and I'm hungry, and the lasagne's cold and Alex isn't here to laugh with."

"Well, better food then no food at all." Violet says. "Fine," He mumbles taking the plate Susan cut for him, when he said he was hungry. "Thanks Su."

"Su?" She beams. "I've never had a nickname before." Caleb seems to let logic fly when he says "I think Susan's too beautiful a name to change." She flushes before sitting back down next to him. _Challenge accepted,_ Uriah thinks to himself. "I completely agree, but it's always nice to think of a nickname for someone who you like. Su, is a great name for my great new friend."

"You don't need to give someone a nickname for them to be special to you." Susans' face turns redder and she stares at the table, eyes wide, not used to all this attention. "True but the effort is most probably appreciated." Caleb goes silent.

"I like the nickname, thank you." Susan lifts her head hoping the exchange is over. "See Caleb." He says the smirk never leaving. "I already have a nickname for you anyway, no need for jealously."

"I'm fine thanks." Will looks up from the book. "Can I read?"

"Can he CaCa?"

"Don't call me CaCa."

"Sorry Lebby."

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**I REACH MY street five minutes before I usually do, according to my watch—which is the only adornment Abnegation allows,**

Christian gasps. "No earrings, necklaces, bracelets?"

"Sometimes a simple chain for special occasions." Natalie answers. "Unbelievable." Marlene cries outraged.

**and only because it's practical. It has a gray band and a glass face. If I tilt it right, I can almost see my reflection over the hands.**

Christina nudges her. "You're obsessed with your reflection."

**The houses on my street are all the same size and shape. They are made of gray cement, with few windows, in economical, no-nonsense rectangles.**

"What a bore." Lynn mumbles. "How did you love this lifestyle?"

"For starters everyone was equal you didn't have to stand out be special, we all lived in a kind sort of harmony. It was simple, comforting."

"Simplicity isn't always the best way." Lynn argues leaving Tris with no reply.

**Their lawns are crabgrass and their mailboxes are dull metal. To some the sight might be gloomy, but to me their simplicity is comforting.**

"Ooh, she just said what she just said in the book." Uriah said. "Great minds think alike." Tris says sounding happy with herself. "More like the same mind think alike." Caleb squelches.

**The reason for the simplicity isn't disdain for uniqueness, as the other factions have sometimes interpreted it.**

"I always thought you guys were just trying to be unique or special." Cara admits. "Same here." Christina laughs.

**Everything—our houses, our clothes, our hairstyles—is meant to help us forget ourselves and to protect us from vanity, greed, and envy, which are just forms of selfishness. If we have little, and want for little, and we are all equal, we envy no one.**

"But you do." Eric stares at Tris. "You envy us Dauntless, you're vain by always trying to find a way to look at your reflection even it is by accident, and you greed to love the life you live."

"Not really," She said surprisingly calm. "I admire the life the Dauntless live, I always accidentally catch a glimpse of myself in reflections so I know how to see myself if I want too, and I do love the way Abnegation live I just wanted to live it properly as well."

Violet glares amusingly at him. "Yeah back off."

**I try to love it.**

**I sit on the front step and wait for Caleb to arrive. It doesn't take long. After a minute I see gray- robed forms walking down the street. I hear laughter. At school we try not to draw attention to ourselves, but once we're home, the games and jokes start.**

"Hmm, not so selfless at home." Peter squirms in his seat again. "Can I be untied now?"

Violet's face said it all. "Never mind then..."

**My natural tendency toward sarcasm is still not appreciated.**

Theirs a burst of laughter. "Only Tris."

**Sarcasm is always at someone's expense. Maybe it's better that Abnegation wants me to suppress it. Maybe I don't have to leave my family. Maybe if I fight to make Abnegation work, my act will turn into reality.**

"Story of my life, they just failed me." Marcus murmurs inaudibly. _His son failed. His wife failed._

**"Beatrice!" Caleb says. "What happened? Are you all right?"**

**"I'm fine." He is with Susan and her brother, Robert, and Susan is giving me a strange look, like I am a different person than the one she knew this morning.**

"What was up with that?" Tris asks bringing it up. "The thing was you did look like a different person, confused, pale but confident. Also-" She paused. "You kept touching your wrist."

Tris' mouth forms a perfectly shaped 'o'.

**I shrug. "When the test was over, I got sick. Must have been that liquid they gave us. I feel better now, though." I try to smile convincingly. I seem to have persuaded Susan and Robert, who no longer look concerned for my mental stability, but Caleb narrows his eyes at me, the way he does when he suspects someone of duplicity.**

"Only you brother." Tris sighs. "Of course." Said brother smiles.

**"Did you two take the bus today?" I ask. I don't care how Susan and Robert got home from school, but I need to change the subject.**

"Ouch, she don't care." Uriah laughs like it's the funniest thing in the world. Marlene can't help but laugh as well. "I know right it sounds so mean." They keep laughing until Eric tells them to shut up already.

**"Our father had to work late," Susan says, "and he told us we should spend some time thinking before the ceremony tomorrow." My heart pounds at the mention of the ceremony. "You're welcome to come over later, if you'd like," Caleb says politely.**

**"Thank you." Susan smiles at Caleb. Robert raises an eyebrow at me. He and I have been exchanging looks for the past year as-**

"Exchanging looks." Uriah says feigning an incredulous face. "Oh how very flirty could it be love in Abnegation." His voice takes a weird posh voice, the room chuckles lowly.

Robert blushes. "No."

"That would be totally scandalous." He waggles his eyebrows suggestively.

**Susan and Caleb flirt in the tentative way known only to the Abnegation.**

"No we don't." They both say, they look at each other the same flush on their faces. "Yeah, you do." Tris and Robert say.

**Caleb's eyes follow Susan down the walk.**

Zeke laughs. "He's probably checking out her butt."

"I was just thinking that." Uriah adds. "I would never!" He said.

"Why what's wrong with it?" Zeke smirks. "Nothing... I'm sure it's fi- fine but, I wou- wouldn't do-"

"Just stop Lebby, you're just making it worse." Uriah says looking at Susan's horrified face, and laughing again.

"Stop calling me Lebby."

**He turns to me. His dark, straight eyebrows draw together so that a crease appears between them. When he frowns, he looks more like my mother than my father.**

Caleb's eyebrows do the exact same at that moment, they draw together and the crease appears between them. "I do not."

"You do." his mom smiles, realizing she's never noticed before. His frown deepens.

"There's nothing wrong with looking like your mommy when you're upset." Uriah pouts at him, mimicking his frown.

**In an instant I can see him living the same kind of life my father did: staying in Abnegation, learning a trade, marrying Susan, and having a family.**

"Well, I guess we'll never know." Susan sighs. She's already imagined that life for her and Caleb countless times, until he switched factions and broke her heart. Caleb stares guilty at Susan he did like her- still does, he'd wanted that life _but..._ in Erudite.

**It will be wonderful.**

"You really believed I was an Abnegation man?" Caleb asks Tris kind of amused. "We all did." His father answers instead.

**I may not see it. "Are you going to tell me the truth now?" he asks softly.**

"Smart." Eric praises.

**"The truth is," I say,**

"Did you tell him?!" Christina cries.

**"I'm not supposed to discuss it. And you're not supposed to ask."**

"Oh."

**"All those rules you bend, and you can't bend this one? Not even for something this important?" His eyebrows tug together, and he bites the corner of his lip. Though his words are accusatory, it sounds like he is probing me for information—like he actually wants my answer.**

"I did, I wanted to know if you were staying."

"Caleb, you knew I didn't fit in."

"Yeah, but you were always trying so hard, I just you know..."

Robert looks at the two his Amity traits taking over. "I think you both just assumed about the other." The two sibling look at him in confusion.

"You see," He says gesturing to Tris. "Tris you thought since Caleb was so good at being Abnegation that he'd stay." He turns to Caleb. "Caleb you assumed Tris was so hard working at Abnegation that she would stay. The problem was that you two never sat down to talk about this, because you were so busy trying to keep up your acts, that you never truly saw each other in the way that you truly are."

His gaze shifts to his sister. "Susan, always knew I wanted to be Amity, I didn't need to tell her even though I did." He smiles at his sister.

"We never had this problem because we always talked to each other the way we wanted to... not had to." Susan smiles at him. "What you two needed was a long talk, instead of always focusing on yourselves." Caleb and Tris stare guiltily at each other, apologizing simultaneously.

"Hug it out." Uriah whispers.

The two stand up and hug before laughing at Uriah, who seems in tears. "Oh Zeke!" He cries flinging himself off his couch and onto his brother in a big hug. "I love you, bro."

"I love you too, little brother." He says genuinely, and hugs his brother back. Cara and Will stare at each other before standing up to hug as well. "I missed you sis." They open up their arms to let Christina into the hug, who smiles bashfully for being caught staring.

"Well, since I started this." Robert gets up to hug Susan. She giggles at her brother standing to embrace him. "Lynn, come here." Marlene pouts at her friend who snickers before embracing her friend. Marcus looks at his son, who turns away gingerly. Eric stares in disgust as the room erupts in a hug frenzy. Him, Peter, Violet, Marcus, Four and Tori being the only ones left.

Christina whispers something in Tris's ear and soon all the Dauntless initiates are hugging Four. "What. Is. Happening?" He asks awkwardly. "No matter how grouchy you are, you were still a great teacher." Christina admits.

"Why are they hugging me?" Uriah, Zeke and Marlene seem to be in the group as well. "We just like hugs." Marlene says Tris releases Four and hugs Tori. "Thanks again."

"You're welcome, die virgin." Tris laughs before releasing her. After the hugging frenzy is over and everyone sat down. "See Peace isn't all bad." Robert says proudly.

"Thanks Robert." Tris smiles. Will picks up the book. Violet looks slightly taken aback, T_hat was so freaking weird, Poor Alex missing her chance to hug Peter._

**I narrow my eyes. "Will you? What happened in your test, Caleb?" Our eyes meet. I hear a train horn, so faint it could easily be wind whistling through an alleyway. But I know it when I hear it. It sounds like the Dauntless, calling me to them.**

"You have no idea how weird that sounds." Will interrupts himself. "Hearing it aloud, I kind of do."

"So you wanted Dauntless," Violet encourages. "You just really didn't want to leave your family?"

"Yes."

"It's kind of annoying that you're so selfless and nice." Violet states calmly.

"I'm sorry..?"

**"Just…don't tell our parents what happened, okay?" I say. His eyes stay on mine for a few seconds, and then he nods.**

"Naughty, lying siblings." Zeke tsks at them.

**I want to go upstairs and lie down. The test, the walk, and my encounter with the factionless man exhausted me. But my brother made breakfast this morning, and my mother prepared our lunches, and my father made dinner last night, so it's my turn to cook.**

**I breathe deeply and walk into the kitchen to start cooking. A minute later, Caleb joins me. I grit my teeth. He helps with everything.**

A few giggles spread through the room.

**What irritates me most about him is his natural goodness,**

The giggles turn to full on laughter.

**his inborn selflessness.**

The laughter increases as Tris slowly shrinks in her chair. "Why are you all laughing anyway?" She pauses when no one answers. "It's not funny."

"What irritates you most is my natural goodness." Caleb laughs. "My inborn selflessness." Tris blanches. "It sounds like you're dissing an angel." Uriah says.

"Shush up guys, Will is going to read." She said gesturing. "Actually-" He laughs. "Will, Violet says we need to finish quickly." Tris says intensely, suddenly not looking like an angry kitten at all. "Read the book."

"Um..."

"_Read. The. Book._"

"Right."

**Caleb and I work together without speaking. I cook peas on the stove. He defrosts four pieces of chicken. Most of what we eat is frozen or canned, because farms these days are far away. My mother told me once that, a long time ago, there were people who wouldn't buy genetically engineered produce because they viewed it as unnatural.**

"Yeah, it's nasty. Hardly anyone in our time ate that." Violet says.

**Now we have no other option. By the time my parents get home, dinner is ready and the table is set. My father drops his bag at the door and kisses my head. Other people see him as an opinionated man—too opinionated, maybe—but he's also loving.**

**I try to see only the good in him; I try.**

Tris squeezes her eyes shut, and buries her face in her hands and theirs a long, tangible silence that stretches for an immeasurable time until Tris manages to peep an eye open to see his face.

"Try?" Eyebrows raised, the rest of his face contorted in a frown. "That's… insulting."

"At least she tries." His wife says. Tris smiles sheepishly. "I do love you, even if people say you are to opinionated- which you aren't. Also, note me saying loving."

"Beatrice."

"Dad, I'm sorry, you're opinionated and I know now that I've gained that from you." She pauses contemplating her next words. "And I've realized that in Dauntless I have used this, and it's helped me a lot. All of your attributes have both gotten me in an amount of trouble, but also helped me grow a lot."

"I try, and you're still very loving, again note loving." Her father only nods in reply, a smile tugging at his lips otherwise remaining silent.

**"How did the test go?" he asks me. I pour the peas into a serving bowl. "Fine," I say. I couldn't be Candor. I lie too easily.**

"Not so well, but easily is true." Four says.

**"I heard there was some kind of upset with one of the tests," my mother says.**

"Okay so you tense up when someone mentions the choosing ceremony, but not when someone mentions a mishap with the tests?" Lynn points out. Tris shrugs, _I'm just strange._

**Like my father, she works for the government, but she manages city improvement projects. She recruited volunteers to administer the aptitude tests. Most of the time, though, she organizes workers to help the factionless with food and shelter and job opportunities.**

**"Really?" says my father. A problem with the aptitude tests is rare.**

**"I don't know much about it, but my friend Erin told me that something went wrong with one of the tests, so the results had to be reported verbally." My mother places a napkin next to each plate on the table. "Apparently the student got sick and was sent home early." My mother shrugs. "I hope they're all right. Did you two hear about that?"**

"Little did we know, the sick student was right underneath our noses." Natalie frowns.

**"No," Caleb says. He smiles at my mother.**

"You two should be ashamed lying so easily to us, like that." Andrew scolds his kids.

"I had to lie to you I'm not allowed to tell you." Tris defends herself, and when she saw Calebs blank face she spoke again. "And... Caleb had no idea what happened."

_Siblings stick together I should've realized that earlier, than again I never forgot. He did. _ She thinks, remembering his rejection at Erudite. "Either way, we expect the truth from both of you from now on." He said sternly. They both nod while their friends snicker at them.

**My brother couldn't be Candor either. We sit at the table. We always pass food to the right, and no one eats until everyone is served.**

"Not at Dauntless we don't," Uriah laughs. "One for all and all for food."

Marlene stares at him. "Don't you mean all for one?"

"No, sweetie."

**My father extends his hands to my mother and my brother, and they extend their hands to him and me, and my father gives thanks to God for food and work and friends and family. Not every Abnegation family is religious, but my father says we should try not to see those differences because they will only divide us. I am not sure what to make of that.**

"I'm still not sure."

"We're one big community so if we let the fact that some of us are religious and others aren't we'll be more separated." Marcus explains, her father nods in agreement before adding. "We need to ignore the differences and focus on the similarities." Tris resists rolling her eyes, it wasn't as if it affected her now.

**"So," my mother says to my father. "Tell me." She takes my father's hand and moves her thumb in a small circle over his knuckles.**

She does the same now, suddenly feeling too far from her husband even though they were barely 10 centimetres apart.

**I stare at their joined hands.**

Tris stares at their locked hands now, as she does whenever she notices this exchange between her parents. She longs not for the first time to do the same to Tobias.

**My parents love each other, but they rarely show affection like this in front of us. They taught us that physical contact is powerful, so I have been wary of it since I was young.**

"That explains a lot." Peter chuckles darkly, remembering beating up Tris.

**"Tell me what's bothering you," she adds. I stare at my plate. My mother's acute senses sometimes surprise me, but now they chide me. Why was I so focused on myself that I didn't notice his deep frown and his sagging posture?**

Tris runs a hand through her hair exasperated.

**"I had a difficult day at work," he says. "Well, really, it was Marcus who had the difficult day. I shouldn't lay claim to it."**

Marcus and Tobias look up simultaneously.

**Marcus is my father's coworker; they are both political leaders. The city is ruled by a council of fifty people, composed entirely of representatives from Abnegation, because our faction is regarded as incorruptible, due to our commitment to selflessness. Our leaders are selected by their peers for their impeccable character, moral fortitude, and leadership skills. Representatives from each of the other factions can speak in the meetings on behalf of a particular issue, but ultimately, the decision is the council's.**

**And while the council technically makes decisions together, Marcus is particularly influential.**

"Particularly?" Marcus asks Tris. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you have like a 48.99% opinion. People hardly agree with anything if you don't." She says in a harsh tone. "I'm sure that's not true."

"I'm sure it is."

"Beatrice…" Her father warns, she doesn't know why she immediately listens.

**It has been this way since the beginning of the great peace, when the factions were formed. I think the system persists because we're afraid of what might happen if it didn't: war.**

"That's kind of your connecting factor, isn't it?" Violet questions. "Yeah, I guess." Marlene answers. _Fear of inequality. Fear of war._

Violet thinks ahead to the rest of the book, and the books that follow. War.

**"Is this about that report Jeanine Matthews released?" my mother says. Jeanine Matthews is Erudite's sole representative, selected based on her IQ score. My father complains about her often. I look up. "A report?" Caleb gives me a warning look.**

"I'm getting irritated by these looks," Christina snubs. "What are you her father?"

**We aren't supposed to speak at the dinner table unless our parents ask us a direct question, and they usually don't. Our listening ears are a gift to them, my father says.**

Uriah asks. "So what you sit there and listen to them talk?" She nods.

"How freaking boring!"

**They give us their listening ears after dinner, in the family room. "Yes," my father says. His eyes narrow. "Those arrogant, self-righteous—"**

"Sorry Caleb," Andrew apologizes. "at the time I didn't know."

"It's okay."

"So much for kindness. Dad, over there has a little temper problem." Eric teases. "Were you always an Abnegation?" He doesn't answer and everyone turns to him curiously. "Tell us Mr Prior." He sighs. "It is none of your business, but I was not."

Tris and Caleb stare at their father in shock. They never considered him being from a different faction. "Which one?" Caleb asks.

"No!" Violet cuts Andrew off. "Don't answer that, it's in the rule book, no answering any questions that will be revealed in the books." Andrew nods though he was never going to say.

**He stops and clears his throat. "Sorry. But she released a report attacking Marcus's character." I raise my eyebrows. "What did it say?" I ask. "Beatrice," Caleb says quietly.**

_"Beatrice."_ Christina mimics. "Don't you get tired of this guy?"

"You get used to it." She shrugs.

**I duck my head, turning my fork over and over and over until the warmth leaves my cheeks. I don't like to be chastised. Especially by my brother. "It said," my father says, "that Marcus's violence and cruelty**

Tobias stiffens.

**toward his son**

Marcus breathes deeply, his face calm.

**is the reason his son chose Dauntless instead of Abnegation."** **Few people who are born into Abnegation choose to leave it. When they do, we remember. Two years ago, Marcus's son, Tobias, left us for the Dauntless, and Marcus was devastated.**

Four cringes_, yeah right._

**Tobias was his only child—and his only family, since his wife died giving birth to their second child. The infant died minutes later. I never met Tobias. He rarely attended community events and never joined his father at our house for dinner. My father often remarked that it was strange, but now it doesn't matter.**

"Have you ever met him?" Andrew asks the Dauntless. "No," They all say excluding Four and Eric. "I didn't know we had a Tobias in Dauntless." Tris said, to Christina suddenly the most incredible actress. "Me either." she nods

"Weird though."

**"Cruel? Marcus?" My mother shakes her head. "That poor man. As if he needs to be reminded of his loss."**

**"Of his son's betrayal, you mean?" my father says coldly.**

"How is it betrayal?" Tris asks coldly as well, she's been resisting the urge since Will began reading that part to punch Marcus.

"How can you say that, his son was all he had left." Her dad's disapproval is evident but she's too angry to care. "The son left for a reason," Tris looks over at Marcus. "Why did your son leave?"

"I have no idea." His tone sad and depressed. The only thing holding Tris back, now is Christina holding on to her trembling hands, and Tobias' silent pleading look.

"You're a-"

"You should be more sensitive to others feelings." Peter says mockingly. "Shut up." She says, to frustrated for a better comeback. "Yeah," Christina joins in "Before she blows your non -existing balls off." Tris laughs the exact result Christina wanted out of her.

Four loosens up content that this part is over, he didn't want anybody to know. Not yet.

**"I shouldn't be surprised at this point. The Erudite have been attacking us with these reports for months. And this isn't the end. There will be more, I guarantee it." I shouldn't speak again, but I can't help myself. I blurt out, "Why are they doing this?"**

**"Why don't you take this opportunity to listen to your father, Beatrice?" my mother says gently. It is phrased like a suggestion, not a command. I look across the table at Caleb, who has that look of disapproval in his eyes.**

"Oh my goodness, I may punch this guy." Christina mumbles angrily. "Judgemental little t-"

"Christina!" Tris hisses.

"Sorry!"

**I stare at my peas. I am not sure I can live this life of obligation any longer. I am not good enough.**

"Not good enough, more like not good at it." Tris corrects her book self.

**"You know why," my father says. "Because we have something they want. Valuing knowledge above all else results in a lust for power, and that leads men into dark and empty places. We should be thankful that we know better."**

**I nod. I know I will not choose Erudite, even though my test results suggested that I could. I am my father's daughter.**

"Wow, that's awkward." Uriah groans, stretching to rub the back of his neck. _Like the ultimate betrayal awkward._

**My parents clean up after dinner. They don't even let Caleb help them, because we're supposed to keep to ourselves tonight instead of gathering in the family room, so we can think about our results. My family might be able to help me choose, if I could talk about my results. But I can't. Tori's warning whispers in my memory every time my resolve to keep my mouth shut falters. Caleb and I climb the stairs and, at the top, when we divide to go to our separate bedrooms, he stops me with a hand on my shoulder.**

"What's about to go down?" Marlene screeches suddenly. "You are way too into this."

"Excuse me I'm too into this, check yourself Mr Uriah."

**"Beatrice," he says, looking sternly into my eyes. "We should think of our family." There is an edge to his voice. "But.**

"But?" Christian asks. "There was a but?"

"A big but."

**But we must also think of ourselves."**

"Whoa, you can tell he was rethinking his choice as well." Zeke states. "No matter what you all think." Caleb states to his family. "It was a hard decision, for me too."

**For a moment I stare at him. I have never seen him think of himself, never heard him insist on anything but selflessness. I am so startled by his comment that I just say what I am supposed to say: "The tests don't have to change our choices." He smiles a little. **

**"Don't they, though?" He squeezes my shoulder and walks into his bedroom. I peer into his room and see an unmade bed and a stack of books on his desk.**

"The pile of books should've been an indication." Will says. "I was very distracted."

**He closes the door. I wish I could tell him that we're going through the same thing. I wish I could speak to him like I want to instead of like I'm supposed to. But the idea of admitting that I need help is too much to bear, so I turn away.**

Robert gives them a knowing look.

**I walk into my room, and when I close my door behind me, I realize that the decision might be simple. It will require a great act of selflessness to choose Abnegation, or a great act of courage to choose Dauntless, and maybe just choosing one over the other will prove that I belong. Tomorrow, those two qualities will struggle within me, and only one can win.**

"Well, that's the end of Indecisive."

"Good name." Tris smiles a little. "Chapter 3: Inconclusive and Chapter 4: Indecisive."

"I, I!" Uriah shouts.

Peter shifts in his seat. "So what about Alexandra is she coming back?"

"One way or another," Violet says. "she will have to, the DUTT will force her."

"What's that stand for, again?" Tori asks. Caleb interrupts before Violet can speak. "It means Dimensional, Universal Time Travelers she's said it before."

"Yes, she has." There standing nonchalant leaning on the kitchen door frame is Alexandra. "So what I'd miss."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Choice**

Alexandra's face is slightly puffy and her eyes bloodshot but her face exudes calmness, neutrality. In her arms are several huge boxes of pizzas.

"Alexandra!" Violet exclaims at the same time Uriah screams pizza. "I'd like to apologize that I di-" She holds out a hand to stop her from talking. "Just forget it, Vi." She places the pizzas on the table before walking back to her chair alongside Peter. "Sorry, I had a moment. Not exactly professional I know." She smiles sadly at them.

"We completely understand." Natalie says to her.

Alexandra frowns at the pitying looks everyone was giving her. "Look, I'm totally fine." She says protectively. "I've had a rough past, a lot of people everywhere have. Granted mine was disturbingly similar to the factionless and I think no one should live under those conditions, and strive to ensure that. The factionless are people, _humans_ just like you and you all treat them like dirt. Abnegation tries a little harder than the rest, but _so what?_"

"The ones that are belittled, are the ones who strive to become the best. I'll never forget that part of my life but I do try to move past it and only improve my days to come; that's why I won't stop." Theirs a mix of confusion at her last words. "Stop. _Stop_ with my speeches, stop with pushing you all to the point where I'm annoying. I think everyone is precious and you all can make the difference so everyone else sees that as well.'

"Why us?" Caleb asks. "I'll probably tell you in the future why, but let's see if you can figure it out."

Theirs an awe of admiration, and confusion to Alexandra radiating from the room that causes a stretch silence. "So I was thinking," She continues. "maybe something that happened in Tris's test was what caused the thing with Eric."

"It could be." Violet says. "But when we read it, it was like that."

"We took turns remember, long nights, summaries. Maybe we missed something, I certainly missed this in your summary of chapter."

"I didn't think it was beneficial."

"Everything is beneficial." Alexandra argues. "I'll write it down just in case." She says picking up her pad and pen from in between her Only a handful of people take slices of pizza, the rest settle on soda and juice from the mini fridges.

"I'll read." Alexandra says when no one says anything. Will chucks the book to her and she catches it skilfully.

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**THE BUS WE take to get to the Choosing Ceremony is full of people in gray shirts and gray slacks. A pale ring of sunlight burns into the clouds like the end of a lit cigarette. I will never smoke one myself—they are closely tied to vanity—but a crowd of Candor smokes them in front of the building when we get off the bus.**

"How is it close to vanity?" Alexandra asks.

"I think it has to do more with the fact that your smoking isn't really contributing to anyone but yourself." Tris says confused by it as well. "Not even a contribution to self actually."

**I have to tilt my head back to see the top of the Hub, and even then, part of it disappears into the clouds. It is the tallest building in the city. I can see the lights on the two prongs on its roof from my bedroom window. I follow my parents off the bus. Caleb seems calm, but so would I, if I knew what I was going to do.**

Caleb sighs, he was kind of disappointed that Tris didn't truly know him, but on the other hand he didn't really know her the way a brother should either. Not until the ceremony that is.

**Instead I get the distinct impression that my heart will burst out of my chest any minute now, and I grab his arm to steady myself as I walk up the front steps. The elevator is crowded, so my father volunteers to give a cluster of Amity our place. We climb the stairs instead, following him unquestioningly.**

**We set an example for our fellow faction members, and soon the three of us are engulfed in the mass of gray fabric ascending cement stairs in the half light.**

"Wow, you all are pretty cool." Christina admits, to Tris' parents. "Giving away your place like that."

**I settle into their pace. The uniform pounding of feet in my ears and the homogeneity of the people around me makes me believe that I could choose this. I could be subsumed into Abnegation's hive mind, projecting always outward. But then my legs get sore, and I struggle to breathe, and I am again distracted by myself.**

"Beatrice. I mean Tris." Her mother says. "Even the best Abnegation think about themselves every once in a while, it's perfectly normal." She pauses before adding. "I know it doesn't really matter now but, I just thought you should know."

"Thanks."

**We have to climb twenty flights of stairs to get to the Choosing Ceremony. My father holds the door open on the twentieth floor and stands like a sentry as every Abnegation walks past him. I would wait for him, but the crowd presses me forward, out of the stairwell and into the room where I will decide the rest of my life. The room is arranged in concentric circles.**

**On the edges stand the sixteen-year-olds of every faction. We are not called members yet; our decisions today will make us initiates, and we will become members if we complete initiation. We arrange ourselves in alphabetical order, according to the last names we may leave behind today. I stand between Caleb and Danielle Pohler, an Amity girl with rosy cheeks and a yellow dress. Rows of chairs for our families make up the next circle. They are arranged in five sections, according to faction. Not everyone in each faction comes to the Choosing Ceremony, but enough of them come that the crowd looks huge. The responsibility to conduct the ceremony rotates from faction to faction each year, and this year is Abnegation's. Marcus will give the opening address and read the names in reverse alphabetical order.**

Four breathes he didn't go, in fact he hasn't been to one since being transferred. He's father would be there, every single year. He doesn't think he could manage seeing him so much.

**Caleb will choose before me. In the last circle are five metal bowls so large they could hold my entire body, if I curled up. Each one contains a substance that represents each faction: gray stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless, and glass for Candor. When Marcus calls my name, I will walk to the center of the three circles. I will not speak. He will offer me a knife. I will cut into my hand and sprinkle my blood into the bowl of the faction I choose.**

No one knows what to say. Theirs nothing to say, most of them have experienced it.

**My blood on the stones. My blood sizzling on the coals. Before my parents sit down, they stand in front of Caleb and me. My father kisses my forehead and claps Caleb on the shoulder, grinning. "See you soon," he says. Without a trace of doubt.**

"I had doubt." Andrew admits. "I just tried to look over it as well, and it was very little." For minute Tris wants to sink to the ground in tears and beg her parents forgiveness for her selfishness. But she knows what she did was right. It was her choice. It's her future. She loved her parents- still does but now at least they know she's fine.

"We're really sorry." Tris mumbles to her dad. He looks sad for a while before answering. "I'm sorry I didn't notice my own childrens' unhappiness in our faction."

"We weren't unhappy." Caleb says. "We just didn't feel the Abnegation lifestyle was fulfilling."

Natalie speaks, as a silence falls on the room. "We shouldn't dwell on the past. Let's read, and be glad to be in each other's presence." Theirs a short pause before Alexandra starts reading.

**My mother hugs me, and what little resolve I have left almost breaks. I clench my jaw and stare up at the ceiling, where globe lanterns hang and fill the room with blue light. She holds me for what feels like a long time, even after I let my hands fall. Before she pulls away, she turns her head and whispers in my ear, "I love you. No matter what."**

"She knew?" Christina asks.

"You knew?" Caleb asks his mom, she said the same too him but he had no idea she knew about Tris as well.

"I knew." She nods. "Then your father knew," She gives him a side glance. "And after thinking it over, we soon came to terms with it right?" Their dad nods. "Not completely but this book is helping me." He says.

**I frown at her back as she walks away.**

"Not the response I was going for." Natalie laughs. "Not the response any of us thought either." Uriah adds.

**She knows what I might do. She must know, or she wouldn't feel the need to say that. Caleb grabs my hand, squeezing my palm so tightly it hurts, but I don't let go. The last time we held hands was at my uncle's funeral, as my father cried. We need each other's strength now, just as we did then.**

Tris smiles at her brother at least they had that, amongst the little that bonds them together.

**The room slowly comes to order. I should be observing the Dauntless; I should be taking in as much information as I can, but I can only stare at the lanterns across the room. I try to lose myself in the blue glow. Marcus stands at the podium between the Erudite and the Dauntless and clears his throat into the microphone. "Welcome," he says. "Welcome to the Choosing Ceremony. Welcome to the day we honor the democratic philosophy of our ancestors, which tells us that every man has the right to choose his own way in this world."**

"Ugh!" Uriah groans. "Do we really have to sit through all of this? We we're all there expect Four and Eric." He gestures to the two. "And they heard it when they were choosing, can we just skip this part?"

"Did you not hear me when I said no skipping." Violet gives him a sharp look.

"Well, then I need the bathroom." He says getting up. "So do I." Eric and Peter say.

"Yeah right." Violet scoffs.

"Vi"

Violet stares at her friend a while. "Fine; Four, Zeke bathroom take them." The two don't argue. Alexandra continues reading as they leave.

**Or, it occurs to me, one of five predetermined ways. I squeeze Caleb's fingers as hard as he is squeezing mine. "Our dependents are now sixteen. They stand on the precipice of adulthood, and it is now up to them to decide what kind of people they will be." Marcus's voice is solemn and gives equal weight to each word.**

**"Decades ago our ancestors realized that it is not political ideology, religious belief, race, or nationalism that is to blame for a warring world. Rather, they determined that it was the fault of human personality—of humankind's inclination toward evil, in whatever form that is. They divided into factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray."**

**My eyes shift to the bowls in the center of the room. What do I believe? I do not know; I do not know;**

"We get it dude, you did not know." Christina huffs.

**I do not know.**

A groan goes through the room. The 5 guys emerge from the bathroom. "Don't bother tying them up." Alexandra digs in the bag on the table with multiple pockets and throws them two silver handcuffs. The two look confused for a few seconds before handcuffing them to their chairs by the legs.

"So what we miss?" Uriah asks Marlene when he sits down. She laughs, when she and Christina say the same thing. "I do not know."

**"Those who blamed aggression formed Amity." The Amity exchange smiles. They are dressed comfortably, in red or yellow. Every time I see them, they seem kind, loving, free.**

Robert smiles proudly.

**But joining them has never been an option for me.**

His smile quickly turns to a frown, at some point he had wished that Beatrice would switch to Amity and they would live happily ever after. But now she is Tris and he is fine with being just her friend.

**"Those who blamed ignorance became the Erudite." Ruling out Erudite was the only part of my choice that was easy.**

Caleb's suddenly confused. He got Erudite. Tris got Erudite among others. Which one of his parents are Erudite? His father did transfer... did his mom? "Um... sorry to interrupt but I just need to ask my mother something."

"Ok."

"Did you transfer to Abnegation?" He asks. "Yes." She answers before she's sure it's a good idea.

"Interesting." Caleb mumbles. "Can I borrow your tablet?" He doesn't wait for an answer as he scoops it up from the table where Cara left it and begins typing. Alexandra and Violet exchange a knowing look before she begins reading again. _Oh the Priors have always been the curious ones,_ she thinks to herself.

**"Those who blamed duplicity created Candor." I have never liked Candor.**

"For some reason, I'm not insulted." Christina says. "Maybe because you're Dauntless now." Eric says bluntly.

"Oh really, I had no idea." She says sarcastically. Her fear of Eric was quickly turning to irritation, he can't hurt her. Well, at least not here.

**"Those who blamed selfishness made Abnegation." I blame selfishness;**

"No you don't." Uriah says.

**I do.**

Uriah stares at the book. "Oh book you sure is putting up a fight."

"Book me?" Tris gives him a confused look. "I am book me."

"Not entirely." Caleb says, looking up from the tablet for a split second. "You see; the you, you were then is different from the you, you are now, because the you, you were then didn't go through the things that the you, you are now went through."

Christina scratches the back of her head. "Huh?"

"Great observation." Cara applauds. "I guess I could have worded it better." He says when some of the people in the room still look confused. "Maybe a little slower next time too."

**"And those who blamed cowardice were the Dauntless." But I am not selfless enough. Sixteen years of trying and I am not enough. My legs go numb, like all the life has gone out of them, and I wonder how I will walk when my name is called.**

"With your legs." Uriah snaps his fingers. "Aren't you ever so helpful?" Tris says sarcastically.

"I try."

**"Working together, these five factions have lived in peace for many years, each contributing to a different sector of society. Abnegation has fulfilled our need for selfless leaders in government; Candor has provided us with trustworthy and sound leaders in law; Erudite has supplied us with intelligent teachers and researchers; Amity has given us understanding counsellors and caretakers; and Dauntless provides us with protection from threats both within and without.**

**But the reach of each faction is not limited to these areas. We give one another far more than can be adequately summarized. In our factions, we find meaning, we find purpose, we find life."**

_That's total bullshit, _Violet murmurs.

**I think of the motto I read in my Faction History textbook: Faction before blood. More than family, our factions are where we belong. Can that possibly be right?**

"Hell no." Alexandra says. "Language please." Andrew scolds her.

"Sorry, but screw that motto." She looks at Violet. "She's my family, the people I've met over the years are my family. And if I was told to give her or any of them up for my wildest dreams, I wouldn't... ever." She smiles, indicating to Violet that she forgives her.

They don't need to hug, for everyone to see their strong sisterly bond. "I wish you had a proper choice." She continues sadly. Before anyone can say anything she reads.

**Marcus adds, "Apart from them, we would not survive. " The silence that follows his words is heavier than other silences. It is heavy with our worst fear, greater even than the fear of death: to be factionless.**

"Well to bad the worst nightmare came true." Eric says coldly. "Huh Tris, where you going to go after this hmm? How about you Tori?" He grins at them. "No answer? I see, don't you wish this never happened? Alexandra and Violet sure ruined your lives?"

Tris stays silent though she thinks over what he just said._ Is this all their fault? They're just doing their jobs, it isn't like they were doing this on purpose. Are they? Alexandra does seem keen on Tobias but, she also looks at Peter in a certain way. _She shakes the thoughts away. This is what Eric wants for her to hate them.

_Is it working?_

**Marcus continues, "Therefore this day marks a happy occasion—the day on which we receive our new initiates, who will work with us toward a better society and a better world." A round of applause. It sounds muffled. I try to stand completely still, because if my knees are locked and my body is stiff, I don't shake. **

**Marcus reads the first names, but I can't tell one syllable from the other. How will I know when he calls my name? **

"Why am I so nervous I know you choose Dauntless." Tris rolls her eyes at her friend's antics.

**One by one, each sixteen-year-old steps out of line and walks to the middle of the room. The first girl to choose decides on Amity, the same faction from which she came. I watch her blood droplets fall on soil, and she stands behind their seats alone. The room is constantly moving, a new name and a new person choosing, a new knife and a new choice.**

"So what each person takes a new knife each time?" Alexandra asks confused. "Yes," Marcus answers. "Then their sterilized, examined and locked away for next year."

"Whoa, that's a really unnecessarily long process. Just wipe it with a cloth."

**I recognize most of them, but I doubt they know me. "James Tucker," Marcus says. James Tucker of the Dauntless is the first person to stumble on his way to the bowls. He throws his arms out and regains his balance before hitting the floor. His face turns red and he walks fast to the middle of the room. When he stands in the center, he looks from the Dauntless bowl to the Candor bowl—the orange flames that rise higher each moment, and the glass reflecting blue light.**

**Marcus offers him the knife. He breathes deeply—I watch his chest rise—and, as he exhales, accepts the knife. Then he drags it across his palm with a jerk and holds his arm out to the side. His blood falls onto glass, and he is the first of us to switch factions. The first faction transfer. A mutter rises from the Dauntless section, and I stare at the floor. They will see him as a traitor from now on.**

"Gosh, Tris." Marlene whines. "You are such a downer, no one saw him as a traitor. Everyone knew James Tucker loved Dauntless, but he was rubbish at it and we all hated him for like 5 minutes when he switched."

"It's not betrayal to choose happiness."

"It's all fine to say that, until it happens to you." Alexandra argues. "Would you say the sane if it was Lynn or Uriah?"

"Well, aren't you a smartass." She giggles.

"She gets cranky when she's tired, also witty." Uriah yawns. Alexandra notices the tired expressions through the room. Even her Peter was tired. "Just need to finish this chapter." She says. Everyone sits up a little on hearing this.

**His Dauntless family will have the option of visiting him in his new faction, a week and a half from now on Visiting Day, but they won't, because he left them.**

"You're so mean." Marlene groans. "You don't know how their family is, your mom visited you didn't she? Why you got to hate on others?"

**His absence will haunt their hallways, and he will be a space they can't fill. And then time will pass, and the hole will be gone,**

"The hole never heals Tris." Marcus informs her. Some people in the room give him pitying looks but he waves them off, saying he's fine. "Bullshit." Violet coughs.

"What was that?" Natalie asks her. "I really need to get this cough." She coughs again. "Checked out." Alexandra begins giggling, and everyone stares at the two as if their deranged.

**like when an organ is removed and the body's fluids flow into the space it leaves. Humans can't tolerate emptiness for long. "Caleb Prior," says Marcus.**

**Caleb squeezes my hand one last time, and as he walks away, casts a long look at me over his shoulder. I watch his feet move to the center of the room, and his hands, steady as they accept the knife from Marcus, are deft as one presses the knife into the other. Then he stands with blood pooling in his palm, and his lip snags on his teeth. He breathes out. And then in.**

"You watched me very carefully, I see." Caleb laughs. "I know right, I guess I was just waiting for you to drop your blood in Abnegation."

**And then he holds his hand over the Erudite bowl, and his blood drips into the water, turning it a deeper shade of red.**

Alexandra's voice is silky, every word painting the picture of the book perfectly. Her tone varies in accordance to the scene and Tris feels her heart tug. Tears escape her as she finally realizes how that say made her feel.

Experiencing it left her confused and surprised, but now that she hears it, it leaves her with a deep pain in her chest. She lost her brother. To the Erudite.

And it hurts.

**I hear mutters that lift into outraged cries. I can barely think straight. My brother, my selfless brother, a faction transfer? My brother, born for Abnegation, Erudite? When I close my eyes, I see the stack of books on Caleb's desk, and his shaking hands sliding along his legs after the aptitude test. Why didn't I realize that when he told me to think of myself yesterday, he was also giving that advice to himself?**

Tris shouldn't care, but she can't help but be mad at Caleb now for his choice. She knows if she isn't angry she'll cry.

**I scan the crowd of the Erudite—they wear smug smiles and nudge each other. **

"I hate them!" Marlene cries passionately. "Alexandra please keep reading before she punches an eye out." Uriah says watching her fiery eyes.

**The Abnegation, normally so placid, speak to one another in tense whispers and glare across the room at the faction that has become our enemy. "Excuse me," says Marcus, but the crowd doesn't hear him. He shouts, "Quiet, please!" The room goes silent. Except for a ringing sound.**

**I hear my name and a shudder propels me forward. Halfway to the bowls, I am sure that I will choose Abnegation. I can see it now. I watch myself grow into a woman in Abnegation robes, marrying Susan's brother, Robert,**

"What?!" Half of the room screams, it soon turns to laughter. "What?" Tris asks, red. "He was the only boy, I actually knew, properly it just seemed like it would be him."

Robert starts laughing as well. After the room calms down Tris can't help but feel insulted, and mortified for some unknown reason.

**volunteering on the weekends, the peace of routine, the quiet nights spent in front of the fireplace, the certainty that I will be safe, and if not good enough, better than I am now. The ringing, I realize, is in my ears. I look at Caleb, who now stands behind the Erudite. He stares back at me and nods a little, like he knows what I'm thinking, and agrees.**

"I did," He says placing the tablet down. "It took me years, but I finally understood you didn't want Abnegation either."

**My footsteps falter. If Caleb wasn't fit for Abnegation, how can I be? But what choice do I have, now that he left us and I'm the only one who remains? He left me no other option. I set my jaw. I will be the child that stays; I have to do this for my parents. Marcus offers me my knife. I look into his eyes—they are dark blue, a strange color—and take it.**

"I didn't realize." Marcus says. To cover up her string of insults to him Tris quickly covers it up saying it suits him, in a mockingly nice tone.

**He nods, and I turn toward the bowls. Dauntless fire and Abnegation stones are both on my left, one in front of my shoulder and one behind. I hold the knife in my right hand and touch the blade to my palm. Gritting my teeth, I drag the blade down. It stings, but I barely notice.**

**I hold both hands to my chest, and my next breath shudders on the way out. I open my eyes and thrust my arm out. My blood drips onto the carpet between the two bowls. Then, with a gasp I can't contain, I shift my hand forward, and my blood sizzles on the coals. I am selfish. I am brave.**

Christina breathes a huge sigh of release. "Oh God, my heart was pounding so hard I couldn't breathe."

"I know right, I was so tense."

Natalie gaze lands on the floor. She doesn't blame them for leaving; in fact on the day of the Choosing Ceremony she knew neither of her children would stay. It felt as if her heart had been pulled out when they left, but she knew it would happen. She loves them, always will and she's sure Andrew feels the same.

"I think it's time for bed." Alexandra encourages everyone. After un-cuffing Peter and Eric, the group groggily follow the two girls through the door that leads to the bedrooms, leaving all their notepads and pens in a large basket on a side table while exiting. They find themselves in a long, wide hallway with a dozen doors at equal distances from each other.

Eight of the doors are bedrooms, each with a large dresser and cupboard filled with clothes, a bathroom, equipped with showers and a toilet and an air conditioner to take up place for the lack of windows. The rooms are decorated to above average requirements, with comfortable singular beds and endless toiletries and necessities spread for them. The two split up the bunch into roommates. Cara, Christina and Marlene in one room, Lynn, Tori, Susan and Tris in another.

Eric, Robert, Four and Zeke in the first male room, while Uriah, Will, Caleb and a very reluctant Peter in another. Marcus is placed in a room alone, and The Prior couple sleep in another. After little argument everyone goes to bed all thinking of the events that occurred today.

Alexandra and Violet positions themselves at opposite ends of the hallway. They decided before arrival the guarding arrangements; in case someone tries to escape, or Eric and Peter try something. "Go to sleep, Vi. I'll be fine." Alexandra says. Violet nods and sleeps their on the floor with nothing but a pillow and her hand tightly wrapped around her gun.

* * *

The group had read late and it was past midnight.

Alexandra needs to stay up for 4 hours, then wake up Vi for her turn. She spends her time, tick- tocking with the clock that hangs high above Violet's sleeping form on the wall. She also tinkers on her tablet ensuring neither Caleb nor Cara managed to get into her restricted files. Caleb had tried accessing his family files on the tablet. _Clever boy, but not clever enough. _While Cara had tried to access Erudite information, chapter summaries and past file logs, and also failed. Alexandra noted they're discreetness in trying, wiping away almost all evidence that they tried to access it.

She was sure they both doubted her intelligence. Another majority spent thinking of Peter, dozing off every now and then.

Until, there's the sound of a door creaking open. Theirs a window close to the ceiling above her that allows her to remain in the dark as she watches the person who tries to sneak out, in the moonlight. She cocks her gun until she sees it's-

It's Tris.

Alexandra's eyes follow the girl, thankful she had the thought to switch off the hallway light. A few seconds later theirs another door opening. It's Four- Tobias... whichever name he calls himself now. She's about to speak, when the two embrace each other.

"Oh Tobias." Tris whispers. Alexandra strangely feels like a third wheel, an invisible, silent third wheel. Luckily Violet stirs when they begin to talk and the two retreat to the room where they began reading the book.

Before the door can fully close Alexandra follows silently holding it open a crack to listen to their conversation, for all she knew they could be planning an escape. "So what do you think?" She hears Tobias ask her, in the dark. Neither of the two dared switch on the light.

"I think they're going to find out about us, I wasn't exactly ignoring you in my thoughts during training." She answers.

"So we tell them?"

"Tomorrow, morning." They continue to talking for a long time, discussing everything. They even talk about her and Violet he doesn't tell about their past. When the topic of Marcus arises Alexandra immediately feels she's invading their privacy and silently closes the door before returning to her position on the floor. A few minutes later the lovers are back in the hallway bidding each other goodnight, with a kiss.

_Aaw,_ Alexandra almost whispers multiple times. _They were cute, and love was around the corner for the two._ When they finally separate and leave to their rooms Alexandra checks the time 2 hours left.

She groans. This is going to be a long night.

* * *

**Hey peeps! Exams over! School over! Fanfiction and me can finally be together! Whoo-Hoo!**

**So I was thinking let's not make this all readig the books. I like TrisXFour and next chapter is gonna have a little of what happens during the rest of the night, some cute breakfast moments and of course reading the books.**

**Maybe some PeterXAlexandra don't hate.**

**Until next time, lot's of love. ****Review, favorite, follow XXX**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Rude Awakenings and Welcome to Dauntless**

Violet stirs from her sleep as Alexandra beckons her to reality. "Violet." She whispers. In one swift movement the girl shoots up and holds a gun ahead, finger on trigger. "What happened?" She asks immediately alert.

"Nothing," Alexandra laughs lightly. Violet groans in realization. "It's my shift isn't it?" She smirks in amusement before getting up, from her kneeled position. "Yep, but unlike you I want to sleep in a bed." She gestures to an empty room with her head. "You going to be alright?" Violet nods. "Why are you panting?"

"I was bored, just finished exercising."

"Who exercises at 4am?" Alexandra gives her a tight hug, before walking to their adjoined bedroom. "Don't lie I now you do. Wake me to help you with breakfast." The door closes. _Like you'll get up._ Violet thinks bemused. She rubs the sleep from her eyes, before moving across the hallway to sit in Alexandra's place.

The hours pass by agonizingly slow. Loud snoring, toilets flushing, and the occasional person sneaking out to get a drink or food. Violet being hypocritical spent her time exercising and reading through the basket of notepads from the Reading room. The only mildly interesting thing that happened was ordering and replacing furniture. Finally, the hallway was brighter and a few minutes after her shift was over, she went to wake Alexandra. The brunette pushed her away multiple times, groaning and moaning for 5 more hours of sleep. It took her several tries and a cup of water over the head but she soon managed to half carry, half drag the girl to the bathroom.

_She needs like 3 hours of sleep per night. _"You're being dramatic." She said leaving her in the bathroom to get ready. When the war of getting Alexandra out of bed ended, Violet refused to go get pre- made food and the two cooked a moderately healthy meal for everyone.

Violet's legs are propped up on the kitchen counter and she flips through Susan's notepad. "Did you read the notes?"

Alexandra pauses from scrubbing the stove and nods. "They started out nice, but as the chapters went by they got really impressive, at least it shows their taking it seriously. They're outlooks are fresh and they write things I haven't considered"

"Pretty sure, they only started taking it seriously because of you." She throws her head back lolling then groans. "Your speeches are endless I know you can't help it though." She pauses looking back at the pad before fling in on the polished table. "Like Susan can't help admiring us, at least 3 pages have compliments."

"She's sweet." The other states.

Finally, after some coaxing Violet gets up to help the other clean, they spend the next hour discussing the group while tending to dishes, and cleaning up pizza boxes, and lasagne plates. They decided there was no way in narrowing down the best note takers because the majority had put an abundance of information, and varying opinions with the same amount of effort. Even with Cara and Caleb's' somewhat advance synopsis and pages filled Tris and others seem to be at the same level. The majority having already filled over a baker's dozen pages.

Most of the group awake after the girls just finished with the Reading room so it doesn't take long to assemble everyone. The tension was unavoidable. Between the Priors, between Peter, Eric and Tris even a little between Four and Alexandra. The situation, the secrets, the seriousness of this whole book was sinking in. It seemed the only escape was to read. Alexandra picks up the book off the table, flopping onto an empty chair with an audible oomph.

**Chapter six**

"Hey, hey, hey!" Uriah interrupts Alexandra, waving a fork in the air at her in warning. "We're eating." He opens his mouth wide. "See food."

"Haha, seafood get it." Uriah groans. "Explaining it ruins it, Zeke." He nudges Lynn alongside him. "Beginners, am I right?" She shakes her head smirking.

"Can't you eat while I read?" Alexandra asks blankly.

"We have weeks right? What's the rush?" Uriah waves her off.

Violet nods in agreement taking a forkful of scrambled eggs. "I kind of agree, plus we're ahead of time, a little break won't kill anyone." She glances at Tris. "...Maybe her." Said girl pauses mid bite.

"That's re-assuring."

Alexandra places the book down. "Take one for the team, buddy." That said everyone soon separates into small groups; some go off to the kitchen, others curl up on the floor. Caleb, Tris and their parents have yet another family talk; it was becoming a chapterly thing. Four watches Tris wondering if they're really ready to tell everyone about their relationship. She notices his gaze and they lock eyes, he offers a reassuring smile before escaping to the kitchen.

"Jug, jug, jug." Lynn, Marlene and Christina chant as Uriah downs a carton of milk. His eyes land on Four in the door way and he spews out a huge mouthful. "Eew!" They screech in laughter and disgust, as milk drips off them onto the floor. Uriah wipes his lips smirking.

Four shakes his head and turns back to the Reading room, suddenly not wanting to escape here anymore. He sits back down trying to get distracted, his eyes land on Alexandra. She sat talking to Peter an apologetic look on her face, he pointedly ignores her.

He tries pushing the thoughts away but, it edges into his head. _Alexa… that was her name back in Dauntless. _He remembers.

He allows himself a flashback if only to distract himself from everyone else. _"Hey, you're Tobias, right?" A pretty girl, with dark green eyes and short dark hair smiles brightly at him. He hesitates at first still protective over using his real name then nods._

_"I'm Alexandra…" When he doesn't say anything she continues. "Most people call me Alexa, but I'll make an exception for you. I'm an Abnegation transfer too you probably didn't notice me." He remembers how they became inseparable after that. She protected him, helped him. She was one of the primary people that helped mould him into the man he is today._

_Then things started to go wrong; people started noticing she'd constantly leave at night, Eric attempted to kill her, her closeness with the leaders led to numerous rumours. She only told him one thing before her sudden "suicide."_

_'I'll see you soon.'_

_And she did, months later. It was awkward, and horrible, and she didn't explain things properly but it was just to show him she was alive and things weren't as it seemed. He didn't forgive her, but said he understood._

His train of thought was lost when something shifted the weight of the large couch. "Hey."

"Hello," He greets awkwardly. "What's up with Peter?" He asks after a few seconds of silence.

"I KO'd him yesterday."

"KO'd...?"

"I knocked him out, when he tried to sneak into Tris' group's room last night." Four's hands clench into tight fists. "You know I wouldn't let anyone hurt someone you care about." Four relaxes. "I know."

"Hey can I- I mean do you mind if- can I sit with you today?"

"Sure… _Alexa_."

Eric was officially over being patient. He needed Alexandra and Violet out of his way, so he could kill Tris and Four. Though with the rest of the room also on her side, there was no way he would be able to get to her until this is all over. He chewed angrily on a muffin; him and Peter were officially banned from being anywhere near Tris, unless there was some type of restraints involved.

"You know I like it here," Zeke says finishing off his plate. "Comfy beds and couches, no exercise, really good food and not bad company." He points a finger at Eric. "That goes for you too." Eric sneers at him from his corner seat next to Violet, who laughs.

"How long we staying anyway? A few months?" He asks. "Actually at the rate we're going a few weeks." Alexandra answers.

Cara pouts leaning against Will on the floor. "I like it here too. Got my sister back." He hugs her tightly. Christina exits the kitchen followed by the rest of the group. "We're done eating." Christina announces.

"Everyone in here's done too." When they finish collecting the plates and leaving everything in the kitchen, everyone sits down hardly anyone siting where they were last time.

"Ok then." Violet smirks before taking a remote out of her pocket and pressing a green button. Eric and Peter are caught off guard when their armchairs suddenly spring out restraints. They wrap around their wrists hard, stainless, steel metal.

"Hey! Seriously?" Peter yelps. "Ordered it yesterday," Violet explains. "It's just till you guys are less you know… crazy."

Violet snatches the book from Alexandra. "Nope. You already read." She pouts.

"I'm so excited!" Christina squeals. "The adventure is really beginning now."

Marlene agrees. "This book is really good, and I've read my fair share of books. All it's missing is a love interest." Christina claps loudly laughing. "Tris! I'd love it!" Before anything else can be said Violet opens the book and begins reading.

**Chapter six**

**I TRAIN MY eyes on the floor and stand behind the Dauntless-born initiates who chose to return to their own faction. They are all taller than I am, so even when I lift my head, I see only black-clothed shoulders.**

"Speaking of black, I am loving these clothes you gave us. Their so comfortable." Christina wraps her arms round herself rubbing her new black sweater arms up and down clad in her matching jeans. Most of the room nod in agreement.

"I for one like the pyjamas. Never felt anything so soft and warm." Zeke says. "Honestly, I'm thinking of leaving dauntless and going to wherever it is you two live."

Uriah chuckles next to his brother. "Agreed. The land of soft pillows, air conditioners and chocolate _freaking_ chip pancakes."

"And fruit!"

Alexandra and Violet had put multiple types of clothing in everyone's room. They tried hard not to factionise the clothing. The Abnegation still managed to somehow look dull and covered in their long coloured clothing and the others all the same in colours and clothes kept similar to their factions.

**When the last girl makes her choice—Amity—it's time to leave. The Dauntless exit first. I walk past the grey-clothed men and women who were my faction, staring determinedly at the back of someone's head. But I have to see my parents one more time.**

Natalie sighs... she felt as if the book was constantly pushing that day in her face down her throat, taunting her. Though she understood her children's choice it still felt like her heart was being crushed bit by bit every day.

**I look over my shoulder at the last second before I pass them, and immediately wish I hadn't. My father's eyes burn into mine with a look of accusation.**

"It wasn't accusation." Andrew exclaims voice tinged with shame. "Betrayal." Violet offers.

"Hate." Uriah says chipping in. "No, no." Will laughs. "I think it was more of an 'I shall come for you look.'" Andrew ignores them sighing in despondent.

**At first, when I feel the heat behind my eyes, I think he's found a way to set me on fire, to punish me for what I've done, but no—I'm about to cry.**

_It wasn't that intense,_ Andrew thinks to himself.

"Gosh Tris." Uriah says from his spot on the floor. "I seriously doubt, you're dad wants to set you on fire."

"My brain might of over- reacted a bit."

**Beside him, my mother is smiling.**

"Your mother is either really understanding, or really happy you left." Uriah comments. "I'd like to think a little bit of both." Alexandra says when Mrs Prior nods bringing on a round of laughter begins.

"Not for the reasons they think." She explains seeing her daughter's expression.

**The people behind me press me forward, away from my family, who will be the last ones to leave. They may even stay to stack the chairs and clean the bowls.**

They did, but got sent home because of their loss.

**I twist my head around to find Caleb in the crowd of Erudite behind me. He stands among the other initiates, shaking hands with a faction transfer, a boy who was Candor.** **The easy smile he wears is an act of betrayal.**

Both Tris and her father are fighting off an accusing glare at said Prior. Caleb sighs exasperated, he wondered how Tris felt that day. He had thought she understood.

**My stomach wrenches and I turn away. If it's so easy for him, maybe it should be easy for me, too.** **I glance at the boy to my left, who was Erudite and now looks as pale and nervous as I should feel.**

Will face lights up instantly. "Is that me?!"

Christina laughs. "I sure hope not, or else my boyfriend is a pale, nervous wreck." He wraps an arm around her and chuckles. "So not me." He says in a low, deep voice.

**I spent all my time worrying about which faction I would choose and never considered what would happen if I chose Dauntless.**

Alexandra smirks. "Hey that's the point, right? Very Dauntless Tris."

"And Amity, as in stupid." Peter laughs at his own joke earning what seems to be Edward's first ever glare.

**What waits for me at Dauntless headquarters?**

**The crowd of Dauntless leading us go to the stairs instead of the elevators. I thought only the Abnegation used the stairs. Then everyone starts running.**

**I hear whoops and shouts and laughter all around me, and dozens of thundering feet moving at different rhythms. It is not a selfless act for the Dauntless to take the stairs; it is a wild act.**

"I don't know how running down stairs, screaming like animals is a wild act." Marcus mumbles. "But to each their own."

**"What the hell is going on?" the boy next to me shouts. I just shake my head and keep running. I am breathless when we reach the first floor, and the Dauntless burst through the exit.**

"Come on Tris," Uriah claps cheeringly as if cheering her on in a marathon. "You can't be that unfit keep up, keep up."

**Outside, the air is crisp and cold and the sky is orange from the setting sun.** **It reflects off the black glass of the Hub. The Dauntless sprawl across the street, blocking the path of a bus, and I sprint to catch up to the back of the crowd. My confusion dissipates as I run.**

"Dissipates?" Alexandra muses. A moment of silence passes and as Alexandra's about to continue Caleb exclaims loudly. "Oh, you mean the Erudite quick-fire game."

"Actually-"

"You probably know it," Caleb continues. "With all the research you most probably did on our factions for the rest that don't know all you have to do is keep the flow going with the word. Go!" He doesn't seem to care for the silence.

"I'll go first; dissipates; it can mean to cause to separate and go in different directions"

Cara snaps her thumb and middle finger together. "It could also mean to move away from each other."

"Live a life of pleasure."

"To spend frivolously and unwisely."

Cara pauses suddenly noticing everyone's eyes on them, "It's probably the first one." She says trailing off. Alexandra gives them a weird look opens her mouth to say something, then shakes her head. "That wasn't my question but, okay then."

**I have not run anywhere in a long time.** **Abnegation discourages anything done strictly for my own enjoyment,**

Uriah and Alexandra suddenly both laugh.

"We don't even want to know." Lynn says when Uriah begins explaining. Everyone nods in agreement. "It's a perfectly legitimate question." Alexandra argues.

"Then you both can perfectly legitimately, keep it too yourselves." Christina says still hooked on the two interrupting her constantly on her turn. Alexandra and Uriah stop talking simultaneously in a phony furious silence that convinces no one.

"Are you guys telepathic or something?" Marlene questions amused. "It's a sick- minded thing." Alexandra says seriously, before her and Uriah start laughing again.

**and that is what this is: my lungs burning, my muscles aching, the fierce pleasure of a flat-out sprint.**

"Will you two stop laughing already?!" Violet snaps. The two stop and Zeke starts. "I just got the joke." He clutches his stomach hunching over in his seat.

"You remember when I asked you this." Alexandra asks laughing again. "Just tell us already." Will says. "Nope. This stays with the five of us." Alexandra smirks. "Five?"

"Violet and Four know too." Violet begins reading before anyone can ask her anything about it. _Sex jokes._

**I follow the Dauntless down the street and around the corner and hear a familiar sound: the train horn.**

"Now that was crazy! Seriously?" Will exclaims. "I wish someone would have told us. _Hey you're initiation starts here. Now see, that train yeah, it's not going to stop so you better jump warning; you might just die or become factionless. But hey good luck." _He makes a funny face then gives everyone a thumbs up.

"You've got problems." This time Peter isn't the only one laughing.

**"Oh no," mumbles the Erudite boy. "Are we supposed to hop on that thing?"**

**"Yes," I say, breathless.**

"This is so Will." Zeke says before turning to him. "What's up with you in the book?" Zeke continues. "You keep asking stupid questions." Everyone stares at Will. "It's not me!" He whines.

When everyone snickers he crosses his arms and pouts. "You like obsessed with her." Zeke adds fuel to the fire.

"Am _not!_"

**It is good that I spent so much time watching the Dauntless arrive at school. The crowd spreads out in a long line. The train glides toward us on steel rails, its light flashing, its horn blaring.**

**The door of each car is open, waiting for the Dauntless to pile in, and they do, group by group, until only the new initiates are left.** **The Dauntless-born initiates are used to doing this by now, so in a second it's just faction transfers left. I step forward with a few others and start jogging. **

_This is insane, they can't expect people that literally just joined to be able to jump onto a moving train._ Cara inwardly sighs. _Poor Will._

**We run with the car for a few steps and then throw ourselves sideways. I'm not as tall or as strong as some of them, so I can't pull myself into the car. I cling to a handle next to the doorway, my shoulder slamming into the car. My arms shake, and finally a Candor girl grabs me and pulls me in. Gasping, I thank her.**

"It's me!" Christina squeals. "Wait I need a minute." She begins breathing in and out. "I'm like a main character in this right?"

"I guess so..." Tris shrugs.

"Who's more important than the best friend?"

"Uh, the love interest."

"Tris doesn't have a love interest, Will."

_This is it, I should say something,_ Tris thinks to herself. _I'm dating Four. Plain and simple. _Her mind shifts from that to everyone's reactions. _I can't do this._ "Tris?" Alexandra calls pulling her out of her thoughts. She looks up to find everyone staring at her.

"What?"

"Do you have a love interest?" Alexandra laughs seemingly joking but it's an obvious bone thrown her way, will she bite? "Um..." She peeps up at Four from the corner of her eye he nods. "Well... me an-"

"Of course she doesn't." Christina waves her off. "If she did she would have told us. We asked her if she has anymore secrets. Plus, we'd have noticed."

"Yeah but..." Four opens his mouth to help her but Christina's way ahead of him. "Now read this is wasting description time." Tris lets out a dejected sigh.

**I hear a shout and look over my shoulder. A short Erudite boy with red hair pumps his arms as he tries to catch up to the train. An Erudite girl by the door reaches out to grab the boy's hand, straining, but he is too far behind. He falls to his knees next to the tracks as we sail away, and puts his head in his hands.**

"That was far too quick, already a factionless, that poor young man." Natalie clutches her husband's hand sadly. Cara scoffs. "Like you care."

"Cara, please don't start." Will begs. He won't be able to stop Tris from punching her if she continues. The Abnegation all stay silent waiting for her to finish. "I'm just trying to say that-"

"I know what you're trying to say. I just want you to keep in mind that if you continue nothing and no one will stop me from breaking your nose." Tris snaps at her.

"That's what you said last time. Why don't actually come here and give it a try?" Cara blurts defensively not completely sure of her. "Prove, Abnegation gone bad."

"Ooh cat fight." Uriah whoops. "Meow, rah!"

Violet rolls her eyes. "Shut up… _all_ of you."

**I feel uneasy. He just failed Dauntless initiation. He is factionless now. It could happen at any moment.**

"You totally saved me there." Christina smiles. "I couldn't let my future best friend not come to Dauntless."

**"You all right?" the Candor girl who helped me asks briskly.**

"Look how nice I am." Christina says. "I helped you into a train, and asked how you are." Tris rolls her eyes playfully, "My hero."

**She is tall, with dark brown skin and short hair.**

"That's it, hmm." Christina nods pursing her lips in a disappointed manner. "I suddenly know how Susan feels." She mumbles. "You didn't even describe my appearance." She adds louder.

Peter looks at her mockingly. "Not much to describe."

"How about I describe how I'm gonna kick your as-" Christina starts. "Language." Mrs Prior cuts her off.

"Ok how would you have wanted me to say it..? She's a tall, dark caramel beauty, with raven hair that hung just above her shoulders." Tris says just off the top of her head.

Christina gives her a 'duh' look. "Uh, that was amazing. Where was this spunk that day?"

"Probably left the minute I step foot on the stairs and all breathe left my lungs, and all coherent thought flew out the window."

**Pretty.**

Christina gives her a genuine smile. "Aaw, thanks Tris."

"If it helps you're beautiful." Will whispers in her ear. She smiles pecking him on the lips. "You're not so bad yourself even pale and nervous that the book you is."

**I nod. "I'm Christina," she says, offering me her hand.** **I haven't shaken a hand in a long time either. The Abnegation greeted ****and** **one another by bowing heads, a sign of respect. I take her hand, uncertainly, and shake it twice, hoping I didn't squeeze too hard or not hard enough.**

"Actually it felt like a nervous spasm." Christina laughs. "I thought you were just scared or nervous. The rest of us were."

**"Beatrice," I say.**

"So when did all this Tris, business start?"

"Half an hour later." Tris answers her dad.

**"Do you know where we're going?" She has to shout over the wind, which blows harder through the open doors by the second. The train is picking up speed. I sit down. It will be easier to keep my balance if I'm low to the ground. She raises an eyebrow at me.**

**"A fast train means wind," I say. "Wind means falling out. Get down." Christina sits next to me, inching back to lean against the wall.**

**"I guess we're going to Dauntless headquarters," I say, "but I don't know where that is."**

**"Does anyone?" She shakes her head, grinning. "It's like they just popped out of a hole in the ground or something."**

"Well you weren't completely wrong." Lynn states.

The people that don't know that Dauntless practically live in a large variety, of underground caves, look at her confused. "You'll find out soon."

**Then the wind rushes through the car, and the other faction transfers, hit with bursts of air, fall on top of one another. I watch Christina laugh without hearing her and manage a smile.**

"Creepy stalker." Christina says to Tris. "Watching other people laugh and then smiling."

**Over my left shoulder, orange light from the setting sun reflects off the glass buildings, and I can faintly see the rows of gray houses that used to be my home. It's Caleb's turn to make dinner tonight. Who will take his place—my mother or my father?**

**And when they clear out his room, what will they discover? I imagine books jammed between the dresser and the wall, books under his mattress. The Erudite thirst for knowledge filling all the hidden places in his room.'**

"Oh Beatrice."

"Oh mother." She copies her tone.

"You worry too much."

"What happened after we left?" Tris asks all humour gone from her voice. Their parents exchange a look both not wanting to talk about it. Susan speaks up for them. "They didn't have time for any of that." She starts.

"We hardly had time to grief. We were invited to almost every house in Abnegation, and everyone gave their condolences. Meal after meal." Andrew chuckles. "Most of them the same thing."

"Though someone gave us a cake." Natalie added laughing. "Managed to even make it grey. It was good." Natalie explained how they were so busy with work and all the dinners that they only got a few minutes every week, to talk about their situation. Until finally they started declining invitations. "We only actually entered your rooms' weeks later."

"Must have been very emotional." Alexandra states. "We were… ok." Natalie's voice brakes at the end.

**Did he always know that he would choose Erudite?**

"Well, at some point I did want to stay in Abnegation." He admits. His parents look at him in shock. "But that was when I was 10 years old, coincidentally it was also when you first took me to a library."

Violet snorts. "Shame your problem their."

**And if he did, how did I not notice?**

Tris thinks back to Robert's words. She was too self-absorbed.

**What a good actor he was. The thought makes me sick to my stomach, because even though I left them too, at least I was no good at pretending.**

The accusing looks, the constant guilt in his stomach it was too much. "But you were still pretending." Caleb says. "Does it really matter if I was good or not?"

"Yes, at least everyone knew I wasn't selfless." Tris defends.

"That's ridiculous, so I was good at fitting in. Some people could act like the perfect Dauntless and still be miserable. Look I didn't _betray _anyone and I'm tired of people looking at me as if I have." He shoots back using his fingers for air quotes.

"Betrayal." She says stunned for a minute. "You didn't betray anyone? You joined Erudite! The faction that's trying to take down Abnegation. How could you?"

"Oh please, _Tris_." He says coldly." You changed your name just so you didn't have to be reminded about your past."

"That's not why I changed it! And you know that!" "As a matter of fact no I don't. I don't know you at all anymore."

"Well at least you used to know me. Turns out my brother is a completely different person to who I thought."

"All I did was trust the test and follow my gut."

"I know, Caleb." Tris cries. "I'm sorry. I was upset, okay. This book is just bringing up a lot of old, bad memories that I thought I moved on from." He sighs, "I know what you mean." then apologises as well.

_This is book is going to tear her apart before I do._ Eric thinks to himself ._..Perfect._

**At least they all knew that I wasn't selfless.** **I close my eyes and picture my mother and father sitting at the dinner table in silence. Is it a lingering hint of selflessness that makes my throat tighten at the thought of them, or is it selfishness, because I know I will never be their daughter again?**

"Oh Beatrice," Her mother sighs. "You and Caleb will always be our kids. No matter what.

"Just because you left doesn't mean we'll ever stop loving you." Andrew adds. He knows he shouldn't be having this type of conversation in front of people. It was very un- Abnegation but, then again the whole situation was un- Abnegation so, what the heck.

"That was a completely different person." Tris says in defence. Caleb smiles at his parents, glad to know they still see him as their son.

**"They're jumping off!"**

"Again no warning." Will huffs. "You are such a baby," Christina coos pinching his cheeks. "Admit it that was fun."

"A little."

"You landed on your feet didn't you?" He smirks mockingly. "Maybe."

**I lift my head. My neck aches. I have been curled up with my back against the wall for at least a half hour, listening to the roaring wind and watching the city smear past us. I sit forward. The train has slowed down in the past few minutes, and I see that the boy who shouted is right: The Dauntless in the cars ahead of us are jumping out as the train passes a rooftop. The tracks are seven stories up.**

"What?" Everyone not in Dauntless exclaim simultaneously. "Oh my god! What type of faction is this?" Cara asks. "That is quite extreme." Susan adds.

"Extreme more like crazy." Caleb interrupts. "The statistics of all of them making it is..."

"Quite possible, but…" Cara says calculating in her head same as Caleb. "Would they all jump, is the question." He continues for her.

"Either someone will die or…"

"Someone won't jump."

"Wanna bet?"

"Will, you can't bet if you know the outcome." Tris says.

**The idea of leaping out of a moving train onto a rooftop, knowing there is a gap between the edge of the roof and the edge of the track, makes me want to throw up.**

**I push myself up and stumble to the opposite side of the car, where the other faction transfers stand in a line.** **"We have to jump off too, then," a Candor girl says. She has a large nose and crooked teeth.**

Christina snickers an answer that sounds a lot like. "Peter as a girl." Theirs a burst of laughter and Christina loos at him mockingly feigning hiding her laugh with her hand.

**"Great," a Candor boy replies, "because that makes perfect sense, Molly. Leap off a train onto a roof."**

"Now that's Peter." Tris says. "You can tell by the way he's already complaining." Christina adds.

"Shut up." He hisses.

**"This is kind of what we signed up for, Peter," the girl points out. "Well, I'm not doing it," says an Amity boy behind me. He has olive skin and wears a brown shirt— he is the only transfer from Amity. His cheeks shine with tears.**

"One non- jumper." Cara notes.

Caleb shakes his head. "He'll jump. Honestly it takes a lot of courage just to choose Dauntless whether I wanted to or not, after all that; I would jump."

**"You've got to," Christina says, "or you fail. Come on, it'll be all right."**

**"No, it won't! I'd rather be factionless than dead!" The Amity boy shakes his head. He sounds panicky. He keeps shaking his head and staring at the rooftop, which is getting closer by the second. I don't agree with him. I would rather be dead than empty, like the factionless.**

"Hey!" Alexandra exclaims kind of insulted.

**"You can't force him," I say, glancing at Christina. Her brown eyes are wide, and she presses her lips together so hard they change colour.**

"I couldn't take it." She admits. "How could he just give up like that? We just started and he was throwing it all away."

Tris nods. "I understand, but it was his choice."

"Stupid _choice_." Four comments.

"He decided that, that was his path."

"Horrible _path_."

"Maybe he's better off."

"He's probably _really_ not."

Tris glares at him before laughing. Which earns her a few stares from just about everyone. Four tries hard to hide his smile. Zeke who sits next to Alexandra leans over her towards Four. "Are we missing something here?"

"I'm not sure, maybe…" Four shrugs letting the smile show.

**She offers me her hand. "Here," she says. I raise an eyebrow at her hand, about to say that I don't need help, but she adds, "I just…can't do it unless someone drags me."**

"Thinking back on that, asking a random stranger to drag me out of a moving train probably wasn't the best idea."

**I take her hand and we stand at the edge of the car. As it passes the roof, I count,**

"Beatrice- I mean Tris, you're not seriously going to jump are you?!" Susan asks worriedly.

**"One…**

"Oh my god. You're going to do it." Cara says jaw dropping.

**two…**

"This is a horrible idea." Caleb says.

**three!"**

"Yoh, Stiff's got game." Uriah says.

**On three we launch off the train car. A weightless moment, and then my feet slam into solid ground and pain prickles through my shins. The jarring landing sends me sprawling on the rooftop, gravel under my cheek.**

"I can't believe it." Andrew and Caleb say simultaneously; neither knowing Tris' capabilities.

"That sounds fun. I wanna go out and jump on a train." Uriah says. Some of the Dauntless nod in agreement.

"I'm afraid these people are _fa_r from hellions." Andrew whispers in his wife's ear.

**I release Christina's hand. She's laughing. "That was fun," she says. Christina will fit in with Dauntless thrill seekers.**

"Word." Christina says pride fully. "But you got me beat Tris."

Uriah claps is hands loudly, laughing. "She's got us all whipped."

**I brush grains of rock from my cheek. All the initiates except the Amity boy made it onto the roof, with varying levels of success. The Candor girl with crooked teeth, Molly, holds her ankle, wincing, and Peter, the Candor boy with shiny hair, grins proudly—he must have landed on his feet.**

Peter smirks. "Got that right. I guess I was just born a pro at everything."

"Yup," Marlene says popping the p. "That's why Tris whipped you too."

Violet laughs. "Someone just got owned."

**Then I hear a wail.**

Natalie shakes her head knowing the outcome to this. As if knowing the outcome the room grows tense.

**I turn my head, searching for the source of the sound. A Dauntless girl stands at the edge of the roof, staring at the ground below, screaming. Behind her a Dauntless boy holds her at the waist to keep her from falling off.**

"Oh God." Christina breathes everyone on that rooftop got a glimpse of that, including her. It was horrible. The way the girl's dead body awkwardly rested, her eyes open staring but unseeing.

Uriah gulps not able to come up with anything to lighten the heavy mood. He glances at Alexandra who clutches Four's arm, tightly.

_No joke can lighten death._ He thinks to himself.

**"Rita," he says. "Rita, calm down. Rita—"**

**I stand and look over the edge. There is a body on the pavement below us; a girl, her arms and legs bent at awkward angles, her hair spread in a fan around her head.**

Susan bites her lip, trying to block out the images entering her head.

**My stomach sinks and I stare at the railroad tracks. Not everyone made it. And even the Dauntless aren't safe. Rita sinks to her knees, sobbing.**

A few tears trickle down Susan's face. Robert wraps his arms around her whispering calming words.

**I turn away. The longer I watch her, the more likely I am to cry, and I can't cry in front of these people.**

"Not cool Tris." Will frowns. "People in Dauntless cry all the time. At least try feeling sorry for her."

Tris ducks her head, she felt bad. Not for, not crying on that day or not feeling bad but, for feeling right for not doing it. "I did feel sorry for her and her friends. It was just a moment of selfishness."

**I tell myself, as sternly as possible, that is how things work here. We do dangerous things and people die. People die, and we move on to the next dangerous thing. The sooner that lesson sinks in, the better chance I have at surviving initiation. I'm no longer sure that I will survive initiation.**

"Guess you proved to yourself, and the rest of us." Christina gives her an apologetic look, she only ever doubted once that Tris wouldn't make it. "I didn't know you doubted yourself so much." She whispered.

"I guess I just always imagined myself as Dauntless. I forgot about the road towards it."

**I tell myself I will count to three, and when I'm done, I will move on. One. I picture the girl's body on the pavement, and a shudder goes through me.**

Tris sees her parents do a silent prayer. _Is it for me or Rita?_ She does not know.

**Two. I hear Rita's sobs and the murmured reassurance of the boy behind her.**

Some people give Tris weird looks.

**Three.**

Four releases a deep breath.

**My lips pursed, I walk away from Rita and the roof's edge. My elbow stings. I pull my sleeve up to examine it, my hand shaking.**

"Why are your hands shaking?"

"It was my 2nd injury ever, I thought I was bleeding out."

"Just to say," Cara says. "Not that I don't care that someone just died and all, but my probability was totally right." Caleb makes a type of humph sound. "Like it wasn't the exact same probability as mine." He mumbles under his breath.

**Some of the skin is peeling off, but it isn't bleeding.** **"Ooh. Scandalous! A Stiff's flashing some skin!"**

A few people laugh and instead of flushing like she used to, Tris rolls her yes.

**I lift my head. "Stiff" is slang for Abnegation, and I'm the only one here. Peter points at me, smirking. I hear laughter. My cheeks heat up, and I let my sleeve fall. "Listen up! My name is Max! I am one of the leaders of your new faction!" shouts a man at the other end of the roof. He is older than the others, with deep creases in his dark skin and gray hair at his temples, and he stands on the ledge like it's a sidewalk. Like someone didn't just fall to her death from it.**

Alexandra chuckles a bit. "What the way she said it is funny." She says to Four who gives her a weird look.

**"Several stories below us is the members' entrance**

Eric suddenly stiffens and sits up. "Stop reading."

"What?"

"You can't just give away all our factions secrets." He talks to the other factions now. "You've all probably guessed that that's our entrance by now but, that's all you should know. Skip this part."

Alexandra shakes her head. "We can't. You heard some of the Abnegation information, you didn't see them complaining."

"They never complain."

"You should take note of that." Violet says ready to begin reading again.

Eric grunts an answers. "Listen here, I'm a leader of Dauntless and I'm not going to let you continue spilling secrets about our faction. Skip this part, I'm not even involved so it has nothing to do with Tris' death."

"Everything is to do with Tris' death," Violet spits. "If someone was to so much as blink the wrong way could be detrimental." Violet stands and hands the book to Alexandra, before opening said girls' bag and searching through it.

"I-" Eric starts ready to argue his case once again.

"Ssh." She says pulling out a roll of duct tape. "It's my job, to make sure we read every word of this book," She rips out two strips of the grey, sticky paper. "And you mister are not going to risk my bonus cheque at the end of this" She smacks the strips onto Eric's lips before he can say anything creating an overlapping diagonal cross.

She turns to Peter, waddling the tape in her hand. "Am I going to have a problem with you?" He shakes his head aggressively. "Good."

**to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first."**

"Hey!" Alexandra shrieks as the book is grabbed out of her hands, in its place is the roll of tape. "Still my turn." Violet states.

"They want you to jump off a ledge?" Caleb asks rattled.

**"You want us to jump off a ledge?" asks an Erudite girl.**

"Erudite'." Uriah voiced. "You can't live with them. Their all the same."

**She is a few inches taller than I am, with mousy brown hair and big lips. Her mouth hangs open.**

"Big lips." Alexandra laughs. "Like fish lips."

"Wasn't she pretty." Uriah adds snorting. "She was kinda cute." Christina defends.

**I don't know why it shocks her.**

"Its shocks me too." Marcus intrudes. "Jumping onto a train, jumping off trains onto a roofs, now jumping off a ledge. This is too much for a bunch of 16 year olds."

"I agree completely." Andrew nods. "Two factionless boys, and a dead girl already. I think Dauntless may be becoming too dangerous."

"Yes. Yet another issue for us to bring up at the next meeting." Cara snorts. "If the Erudite don't get elected." Cara says. "Miss Matthews probably already has a solution for that."

"Well," Marcus continues unfazed. "Whether she does or doesn't is completely off the topic. I just wanted to express my believe and concern that jumping off trains and doing risky things – that are only fun until somebody gets hurt- is in no way, helping in protecting our city. Which is what the Dauntless are supposed to do."

Though Tris can't help but agree with him, she still speaks. "Pretty big mouthful for an Abnegation."

"I think it's important to voice out, what is a un- noted problem." Alexandra places a reassuring hand on Four's knee knowing what he's thinking._ You noted it._

Suddenly, she remembers. Back initiation during outside challenges her and Tobias had a weird means of communicating through looks, sounds, certain faces and stares. It transcended into general day to day behaviour and

When he turns to her she raises her eyebrows and purses her lips to the side. _You are not your dad._

_I know._ He nods.

_Then stop looking so defeated._

_Whatever. _Alexandra smiles and is pleased when he returns it, maybe he did forgive her. "You two better not be doing what I think." Zeke tells them. "What?" Alexandra asks innocently.

"That thing you used to do and never let me try with you guys." "We weren't even that close at the time." Four waves him off. "Yeah we were, jerk."

"Hey!" Violet yells at them. "Stop yapping you're missing the story." They've heard the bits and pieces of what Violet was reading but, they missed:

**"Yes," Max says. He looks amused. "Is there water at the bottom or something?"**

**"Who knows?" He raises his eyebrows. The crowd in front of the initiates splits in half, making a wide path for us. I look around. No one looks eager to leap off the building—their eyes are everywhere but on Max. Some of them nurse minor wounds or brush gravel from their clothes.**

**I glance at Peter. He is picking at one of his cuticles. Trying to act casual.**

Violet is now reading;

**I am proud. It will get me into trouble someday,**

"It gets you in trouble every day." Four muses.

**but today it makes me brave. I walk toward the ledge and hear snickers behind me.**

"Can't believe you did that." Christina grips her arm, squealing a bit.

"Oh yeah that was awesome." Uriah claps his hands. "I certainly don't know if I was that brave at the time."

"She's doing what?" Andrew asks. "She won't jump." He adds confidently theirs a chorus of snickers.

**Max steps aside, leaving my way clear. I walk up to the edge and look down. Wind whips through my clothes, making the fabric snap.**

"That makes it sound like your clothes ripped off." Alexandra laughs. "What a sight that would have been." Uriah adds laughing as well.

"Not much of a sig-" Peter starts but trails off at Violet's piercing glare.

**The building I'm on forms one side of a square with three other buildings. In the center of the square is a huge hole in the concrete. I can't see what's at the bottom of it.**

**This is a scare tactic. I will land safely at the bottom.**

"That didn't cross my mind." Christina says. "I was thinking; their killing one of us then letting the rest of us live."

"Tris." Caleb says. "I've noted something about you. You don't seem scared, or protective at all during any of these situations. It's as if-" Caleb's cut off by Four. "As if fear doesn't shut her down."

"Exactly." Caleb stunned at first nods. "Fear elites something in you. It's quite fascinating." Tris smiles at this. "Maybe it's not so bad having an Erudite brother." _And a Dauntless boyfriend. _She adds in her head.

The Dauntless doesn't note how some in the room begin scribbling.

**That knowledge is the only thing that helps me step onto the ledge. My teeth chatter. I can't back down now. Not with all the people betting I'll fail behind me. My hands fumble along the collar of my shirt and find the button that secures it shut.**

"Ooh! We got a stripper!" Uriah whoops out. "Let's see those sexy Stiff arms."

**After a few tries, I undo the hooks from collar to hem, and pull it off my shoulders. Beneath it, I wear a grey T-shirt. It is tighter than any other clothes I own, and no one has ever seen me in it before. I ball up my outer shirt and look over my shoulder, at Peter. I throw the ball of fabric at him as hard as I can, my jaw clenched.**

"Hit him girl." Christina cheers.

**t hits him in the chest. He stares at me. I hear catcalls and shouts behind me. I look at the hole again. Goose bumps rise on my pale arms, and my stomach lurches. If I don't do it now, I won't be able to do it at all. I swallow hard.**

Andrew stares hypnotized by the book. "Sweetheart are you seriously going to do this." His eyes stay on the book.

"Yeah." She shrugs as if it's nothing. "I didn't know I had it in me."

**I don't think. I just bend my knees and jump.**

There's an intake of breath from the non- Dauntless. Tori shakes her head in awe, Tris did belong with them. No matter how dangerous it is, she wouldn't be able to fit in properly anywhere else. Tris has proofed herself, in so many ways.

**The air howls in my ears as the ground surges toward me, growing and expanding, or I surge toward the ground, my heart pounding so fast it hurts, every muscle in my body tensing as the falling sensation drags at my stomach. The hole surrounds me and I drop into darkness.**

**I hit something hard. It gives way beneath me and cradles my body. The impact knocks the wind out of me and I wheeze, struggling to breathe again. My arms and legs sting.**

"This is getting my adrenaline pumping guys." Will exclaims. "Let's go for a jog or something after this. I feel too lazy."

"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Peter asks scanning the room.

"Chicago." Violet states. "We're still in the city walls." Eyes widen in shock. "What did you think you were between space and time?"

"Uh, yeah kind of." Uriah says as if it was obvious.

"We'll have a talk about all this later." Alexandra says. "_Some_ people have things to say," Her hint is only obvious to Four and Tris. "and I'm sure you all have a million and one questions." Nods in agreement go through the room.

**A net. There is a net at the bottom of the hole.**

"Oh thank godness." Robert breathes.

"Imagine if it was water." Cara says. "A few would have definitely died."

Christina raises her eyebrows at her. "You're sister sure is a party person." She whispers to Will. He chortles. "I know right."

**I look up at the building and laugh, half relieved and half hysterical. My body shakes and I cover my face with my hands. I just jumped off a roof. I have to stand on solid ground again. I see a few hands stretching out to me at the edge of the net, so I grab the first one I can reach and pull myself across. I roll off, and I would have fallen face-first onto a wood floor if he had not caught me.**

**"He" is the young man attached to the hand I grabbed.**

"You're somehow making some random guy sound oddly attractive." Marlene comments. Uriah gives her a look. "What, just saying."

**He has a spare upper lip and a full lower lip. His eyes are so deep-set that his eyelashes touch the skin under his eyebrows, and they are dark blue, a dreaming, sleeping, waiting colour.**

Tris ducks her head slightly trying to hide her face nonchalantly with the sweater of her sleeve. Four raises his eyebrows in question, much more detailed initial description than he expected. Alexandra notices the slight upturn of his lips.

"3 things." Christina says. "I know one is about the description." Tris says. She never realised she paid so much attention to Four since the start. "Longest description yet." Christina announces ignoring her.

"Knew it."

"Number two, why you so focused on the eyes?" Tris shrugs. "Really pretty eyes, I guess..?"

"Number three, who's this guy?" Marlene wiggles her shoulders. "Tell us about this smexy beast."

Christina nods. "He does sound pretty cute… and wait smexy?! Tell me all." She continues turning to her friend. "It means smackably sexy. Got it from Alexandra she uses it on Peter."

Peter gives the brunette a weird look before turning to Alexandra questionably. "I do not." Said girl whines, slowly sinking behind Four's shoulder.

**His hands grip my arms, but he releases me a moment after I stand upright again.**

"Did you want him to hold on?" Her father asks outraged at the physical contact. The look he gives her makes her feel like an eleven year old. "No, I mean- it's just. It's my brain. I can't control it, it's using me." She blurts out causing a chorus of laughter.

**"Thank you," I say.**

**We stand on a platform ten feet above the ground. Around us is an open cavern**. **"Can't believe it," a voice says from behind him. It belongs to a dark-haired girl with three silver rings through her right eyebrow. She smirks at me. "A Stiff, the first to jump? Unheard of."**

**"There's a reason why she left them, Lauren," he says. His voice is deep, and it rumbles.**

"What?!" Tris asks when she sees everyone laughing. "Who says rumbles?"

"How do you talk rumbly?"

"Rumble." Whenever it seemed to be dying out someone repeats the word and it increases tenfold. "I'm reading over you." Violet announces eventually.

**"What's your name?"**

**"Um…" I don't know why I hesitate. But "Beatrice" just doesn't sound right anymore. "Think about it," he says, a faint smile curling his lips. "You don't get to pick again." A new place, a new name. I can be remade here. "Tris," I say firmly.**

"See that was the reason." Tris says vindictively.

**"Tris," Lauren repeats, grinning. "Make the announcement, Four."**

"Aah!" Marlene and Christina do a double take. "I called Four smexy."

"I called him cute." She acts as if it was the worst swear word in the world. "Why didn't you stop me?!" She smacks Will. "Was I suppose too? I read telling your girlfriend what to do. Kills relationships."

"Stop reading, babe." He laughs. Marlene gives Christina a look as if to say you-do-know-that-Four-is-cute. Christina nods but still feels icky for admitting it out loud.

**The boy—Four—looks over his shoulder and shouts, "First jumper—Tris!"**

**A crowd materializes from the darkness as my eyes adjust. They cheer and pump their fists, and then another person drops into the net. Her screams follow her down. Christina. Everyone laughs, but they follow their laughter with more cheering.**

"I did it to make sure, you were alive." Christina says.

**Four sets his hand on my back and says, "Welcome to Dauntless."**

"Welcome To Dauntless." Violet repeats. "Chapter and chapter name complete."

"So question time?" Caleb asks eager to know more about what was going on. Violet nods she stands by Eric now looking overly eager at the duct tape on his mouth.

"Hey this would be a great time for _someone_ to say_ something_ important." Alexandra says bluntly staring at Tris. "Does _anyone_ want to say _anything really important?_" Both Tris and Tobias/ Four stay silent. Everyone immensely confused turns to Tris their eyes flickering between the two girls.

"You know when you want to say something important but, then can't becaus-"

"Ok I get it, Alex." Tris says in defeat, she takes a deep breathe. "I'm..." She starts then glances at her parents and Eric uneasily._ I really don't want to admit this in front of them._ "Just rip it off like a bandage." Alexandra urges.

"I'm dating Four."

Theirs a moment of silence, then the sharp _Riiiip _of the duct tape reaches everyones ears. "Son of-"


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Dating Scandals and Impossible Discoveries**

The room erupted in a riot of screams and shouts. "Four?!"

"You and Four?!"

"An initiate…"

"What!"

Four strides across the room to Tris partly to get away from Zeke's grilling of questions. She breathes deeply forcing a weak smile, he pulls her close offering a reassuring smile. "Well… that went well." He mumbles into her hair. She shrugs unaffected. "I actually feel much better. I'm just glad everyone finally knows.

Christina's voice bellows over everyone else's. "Finally?!"

Tris like the rest of the room pauses ineptly, so does everyone else. "How long has this been going on?" Eric barks. "And?" Christina adds pointing an accusing finger at her best friend. "Why didn't you tell me? Honestly don't you trust me… us?" She gestures to the rest of their friends irritably.

"Of course I do, but Christina don't act like you guys didn't have a moment of distrust in me. Four and I happened during stage 2, and all of you were suspicious enough of me adding an instructor _boyfriend_, doesn't help."

"Why would they?" Caleb asks, trying too hard to ignore what was happening.

"The second part of initiation looked easy for Tris," Will argues. "Too easy for some."

"What was it?"

"Can't tell references to the future and all that. I see being away from Abnegation, has made you a little curious; Mr frown- whenever-Tris said-anything." Christina smirks at him. "And," She talks to his sister now. "We wouldn't have been suspicious at all- _even if it was only for like a second_\- if you told us about you being-"

"Die virgin-t!" Uriah yells. That was his only comment on the subject, well that and a thrown in. "Dating an instructor, nice."

"That." Christina nods in Uriah's direction.

"No wonder you were so eager to stay."

"Tori that wasn't-" Tris cuts herself off, it was a little part of it.

Christina in furious silence begins putting two and two together and she uncrosses her arms feeling more stupid then angry now. "I can't believe I didn't notice; the _googly_ _eyes_, you _constantly _smiling more, the short mood swings. It was obvious, not the Four part but the boyfriend part." She pauses. "Then again you didn't notice me and Will, and that was pretty obvious too…"

Tris scratches the back of her neck with the hand not wrapped around Four's waist. "Well…."

"Omg! You did not." Christina gapes. "Tris!" She screams and runs up to her friend, getting in-between her and Four she hugs her tightly. "I'm_ so_ sorry. When I was Candor we didn't really need to be observant cause' of the whole truth thing. I'm sorry I didn't notice anything, when you did."

"I guess it was kind of my place to find out considering I know how secretive you are, as your friend I really am sorry."

Tris pulls away laughing. She's painfully aware of Caleb, her mother and father stare but she was trying hard to ignore it; for now at least. "It's okay, I should've at least told you." Christina waves it off jumping excitedly now. "Oh who cares; just tell me everything. When? How?"

"No referen-." Alexandra reminds.

"I know, I know… but I just don't want things to be awkward now," Tris glances around the room uneasily before her eyes settle on three of the most important people in her life. "Mom, dad, Caleb..? I _really _want your opinion on this."

They have been exchanging looks for a while now and sit doing exactly what their family member didn't want. "Maybe we should talk about this another time," Caleb shoots a glare at Four. "_Privately._" Tris sees her dad frowning in anger, and avoiding any eye contact with her he nods at what Caleb says. Natalie's eyes shift between the couple every few seconds her eyes concentrated, her face contorting into a deep thoughtful expression.

Christina goes back to her seat scoffing. "This guy."

"What about my opinion." Eric says bemusedly. The corners of Alexandra's mouth turn downwards, and Four heaves a tired sigh. "Tsk, tsk, tsk Four. Guess it's true what they say." He pauses taking in the groups glare. "'Don't trust the grumpy, quiet, sneaky ones' or the more known term; don't trust the _abnegation_.'"

"Isn't it question time?!" Alexandra tries to change the subject. Caleb's glare softens, Eric's smirk doesn't. "There is a lot of unanswered questions about all of this." Violet adds appealing to everyone's hidden erudite- curious- trait.

"Yes, there is. I want to start with the Tris and Tobias ones." Eric proceeds.

"Oh shut up you."

"No! You and you're stupid partner shut up. I'm tired of this and you." Violet and Alexandra exchange a look that they've exchanged countless times before. "You done too?" Violet asks over Eric's shouts. "Way ahead of you." Her partner drops the pocket bag on to the table where she stood throws the known balls across the room to where Eric sits, the familiar portal forms behind him.

"What the-!" Violet slaps another strap of duct tape on his mouth and pushes his chair through the portal waving tauntingly at the man's panicked face. "Bye, bye!" As it closes his muffled cries go with him.

"Damn I was tired of that guy." Theirs an outbreak of applause. "You're next." Violet winks at Peter, his eyes widen. " No," Alexandra starts. "I don't think so_ pal._"

"Isn't he important? Won't you guys get in trouble with the, dimensional, p- prop- proportional association?" Uriah asks. "Really?" Marlene laughs. "Dimensional proportional. It's Dimensional Universal Time Travelers."

"We probably will but they've known as of…" She glances at her watch. "3, 4, 5 seconds ago in counting." Alexandra chuckles nervously. "And we haven't been automatically teleported yet so that should be a good sign."

"They can't be mad he was a pain, is anyone really going to miss him." Tori says. Peter mumbles something inaudible. "What was that?" Violet asks.

"I said I think we still need more information on this relationship." Peter gestures limply to Tris and Tobias who have long since sat thinking their relationship conversation was over. They sit in a couplie embrace that can only be known as inappropriate in Abnegation; close together her head resting dangerously close to the crook of his neck, his left arm wrapped around her waist.

"Who asked you." Four snaps. Calebs' frown returns this time his dad wears a matching one. "I don't think we should. Please, excuse me." Andrew struts out the room before anyone can reply.

"Dad." Tris gets up to follow him, only to be stopped by her mother. "Let me." She says, Tris nods her eyes following them leave. The whole room stares at her, she flees to the kitchen for a breather, Caleb in tow.

"Tris?" Caleb starts, bursting throw the room behind her. "Can we talk?"

Tris shakes her head vigorously while searching for a cup. The kitchen is a large modern styled room; with pantries and fridges stocked with food and drinks. Various drawers are filled with utensils and kitchenware, and appliances of every kind rest on smooth grey granite counter tops. The various cabinets filled with dishes, bowls and cups surround two parallel ovens. Alongside a silver faucet with a small dishwasher, is a large island table.

"I know I shouldn't but in-"

Tris interrupts him. "Then don't."

"But," He emphasizes. "I am still your brother so I think I have the right?" Hands shaking Tris fills a glass of water from the tap. "Please Caleb, leave me alone."

"Can I please just say something?"

Though she doesn't feel like it he was right. She asked for his opinion and he is her brother. "Your right go ahead."

"I'm going straight to the point." She nods turning her back to him the tap seemed friendlier than his serious and judgmental face. "I think you're too young for a boyfriend."

"We're the same age." She states downing the glass, then re- filling it. Hearing Caleb say boyfriend made the word sound weird to describe Tobias. "Exactly. Now is the time to concentrate on your work- training? Training." He corrects quickly. "You have a whole life for this. I think you shouldn't rush into something, 16 isn't the age where you decide if you love someone. "

He said the word so state fully that she whirled around to face him, flustered. _Love? Who said anything about love?_ She had a deep care for Four, that made her feel a lot of things she didn't know existed inside her before but... She wasn't sure if it was love though. "Caleb!" Tris hisses, her sudden awareness of her feelings now overwhelming.

"This is what I'm hearing from you… Tris you're too immature for a relationship. Tris having a relationship is so new to you that it will distract you from the rest of the world-"

"I didn't say that. You're twisting my words."

"Tris you obviously have no idea how to handle your life so I'm telling you how. Tris you are in love."

"_You're not in love with him?_" Caleb asks barely a second after the words leave her mouth.

"What?"

"You said I'm telling you you're in love. You don't love him..?"

"I- I d-don't know." She admits in defeat. "And it's none of your business." Suddenly, a broad smile appears on his face. Tris frowns then suddenly, "Do you love Susan?"

"What?" He blushes red. Now it's Tris' turn to smile. "You like Susan."

"Well I-" She cuts him off. "It wasn't a question. You liked Susan for a long time in Abnegation and you chose to go to Erudite. While you were there you there you were probably so busy 'training' that you thought those feelings faded, right?"

Caleb stays silent.

"Seeing her again brought up a bunch of old feelings you're not ready to deal with." Tris smiles sadly at him. "Erudite isn't so good at love, I mean I'm guessing of course." She thinks carefully before saying. "Caleb. It's obvious you and Susan harbor feeling for each other, no use denying it; but do you love her?"

They stand their staring at each other then, he exits the room without a word. Tris drops the cup in the sink the brief moment of satisfaction quickly turns to guilt. A heavy thud echoes through the kitchen from the glass connecting with the metallic sink and Tris turns running after him. "Hold on-"

* * *

Andrew leans against the cupboard table in the room him and Natalie share, his back faces the door. "Andrew?" Natalie stays at a distance allowing him space. "Let's talk about it." For a while she thinks he's not going to say anything.

She waits the silence lingers, minutes pass.

He breathes out deeply. "What's happening to our family?" She inches closer to him waiting for more. He turns to face her a short distance between them now.

"I know last night we agreed not to talk about it, and let things happen and see where this takes us but-" He shakes his head. "But look where it's taken us. This is too much. Our daughter has a _boyfriend _and talking to our son is a stab in the back with every erudite related word he says."

Natalie unclenches his fists and wraps her smaller hands around his. "We've done our part, it's their life now Andrew."

"We can't just let them go. I love them so much."

"I'm _not_ saying that. I'm just expressing how we should let them decide on how they run their life and give our advice and opinion where it's needed and wanted…" She pauses. "We were 16, it's the right age. To make mistakes, learn, love."

"I know."

"You know." She repeats smiling, reaching up she strokes his cheek lightly.

* * *

The Priors walk in the room at the same time, this quickly settles the room from their upbeat conversion.

"Caleb that's not what I meant." Tris starts trailing off as her eyes make contact with her dad. "Dad…"

"I'm okay." He says quickly then glances unsurely at Natalie, who nods surely. "And…" He adds. "We think you're ready for this."

Four and Tris do a double take. "You do?" They nod. "Caleb?" She beams whether Caleb agrees or not doesn't matter but Tris cares.

"PDA is off limits." Before Tris has a chance to say she wasn't planning on much of it, Christina scoffs. "What?!" She asksdefiantely. "No way. How do you have a relationship with no PDA."

"Abnegation did a good job at it."

"Good thing we're Dauntless then."

"Christina," Tris warns. "No T, let me handle this." Will chuckles covering her mouth with his hand. "Let's not do this babe." Christina looks up at him; eyes fierce.

Tris exchanges a look with Four. "Deal- ish."

"Ish?"

"_Ish._"

Uriah glad the awkwardness is gone quickly launches in to a question. "So you guys were going to tell us where we are, I think, some time yesterday..?" The Priors all sit and the room settles quickly. The tinge of awkwardness of the situation still lingers in the air, but it's over come with curiousity.

"We are in Chicago." Violet repeats like last time. "What are't you telling us." Tis asks.

"A lot." Violet continues. "But this will definitely result in you all freaking out- again.I don't think I want t deal with that again."

"You'll freak." After pleas Alexandra complies. "We're in the factionless area."

It was as if someone had told them Amity is in charge. Anarchy.

"Calm down!" Alexandra yells. "Listen, this was the best place we could get." The little silence that follows is better than nothing. Alexandra continues. "Nobody was suspicious, thought we were with the Abnegation. Not too many questions."

"Smart." Caleb says uneasily.

"Just don't think about it. No one will come the towns frozen."

"Frozen?" Christina repeats. "How?"

Violet sighs, having repeated this again, and again. "It's not that the towns frozen more like their moving to slow to be considered moving. Time is just an illusion we just altered it."

"That sounds oddly familiar." Cara drags. "Jeanine Matthews would have successfully completed that formulae in 8 years, if Tris died."

"How did yo-" Caleb stutters bewildered.

"We do, do our jobs." Alexandra scoffs crossing her arms. "We do try." Violet says obviously smug. She and Violet are one of the youngest on the force and despite them not always obeying the rules of the job, it's done better than most.

"All this talk of age and time has me wondering." Four looks between Alexandra and Violet. "You're young." He states.

"Not much of a wonder." Violet smirks.

"Ok then. Why are you young? Alexandra? I mean it has been a while." Zeke nods in agreement. "3 years."

"We have really great anti- aging cream." Alexandra starts but is silenced by glares. "Or…" She and Violet roll their sleeve shirts up. "Really great anti- aging bracelets."

A silence follows as everyone leans forward confusion laced on their faces. Until, "There." Uriah says. "That… patch?"

Alexandra uses her other hand to trace her finger along, "A chip." She explains. Embedded in their wrists only visible by a small, grey patch of skin is a small square centimetre long chip. The group watches as it blinks red _beep- beep- beep, _five seconds pass then again. Violet yanks her sleeve back up not pausing for anyone to get a proper look.

"Impossible." Caleb leans forward absentmindedly examining from a distance. "Not really. You just have to know the right people. Get the right connections." Alexandra says pulling up hers as well. "Be in the right timeline and future."

"You guys must be from a different world." Tris says.

"You could say that." Violet trails off standing from her seat and making her way to the kitchen door. "We're a couple centuries in front, and a whole lot of centuries behind. We're everywhere yet nowhere."

"That's confusing."

"Extremely." She says disappearing through the door.

"Factions?" Christina asks. "Are their factions, where you're from?"

"No," Alexandra starts unsure. "but we practically categorize ourselves in them everywhere we are. Whether it's rich, poor, popular or ugly…" Confusion quickly spreads through the room.

"Why would anyone categorise each other in such stupid ways?" Christina asks. "Same reason you do," Violet interjects as she strides back into the room sipping from a can of juice. "For a feeling of belonging."

"Factions aren't exactly like that. They're not perfect but they work and everyone is happy." No surprise it was Cara who said this. Before Alexandra has the chance to show her just how wrong she is, theirs another question.

"What jobs are their?"

"Anything." Violet answers. "As long as you can sustain yourself and pay your stuff, you can be whatever you want."

"That's stupid." Peter rolls his eyes. "Where's the order?"

"There are always laws, rules, a leader usually more than one."

The bunch spend the next few minutes discussing other worlds, then move on to the next topic (and the next, and the next,) the way conversations go. Hours later most of everyone- even Peter- is stunned from the new things they've learned and realized.

"A plane? Why would you need to fly anywhere?"

"The Kardashians?!" That was Uriah, of course.

"World war IV!"

Susan sits thinking deeply on something Violet said that she didn't understand, 'Twerking?'

Alexandra breaks the silence. "We told you this because one day, some of you, not all of you will be looked at as leaders and helpers to a better tomorrow. They will need these ideas and plans, and although some of these are just useless info we told you for laughs who knows what you'll want in the future. We should get back to reading."

"Wait!" Christina yells suddenly. "Can we watch this Twilight first?"


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Teleportation, New Arrivals and Dauntless Beginnings**

"Christina?"

"No!"

"Marlene?"

"No!"

"Guys," Alexandra repeats warningly. "I'm going to say this one more time. Give me the tablet." She says tugging at the machine. "_No!_" The girls cry in union. "Just one more minute?" begs Christina, stretching to see through Alexandra's fingers covering most of the tablet, her and Marlene at the other end pulling just as fiercely. "It's been 30 minutes of you two on this thing."

"And ten." Tori sighs. "Of the three of you arguing."

"_Exactly. So just give it back._"

Marlene struggles to hold on scrambling for something to say. "What if it's significant to our future and we're _meant_ to watch these videos." Alexandra pauses, causing Marlene wrench the tablet out of her hands gripping it tightly to her chest. Christina sticks her tongue out at her victoriously.

"_Twilight_ pictures and videos are significant to your future?" Marlene shrugs. "Could be."

Alexandra considers it, "I could see why you would say that actually." She says nodding.

"Significant to the…" Violet murmurs absently. "I think I got it." She suddenly straightens in her seat face lighting up for the first time in their company. "I do. I got it." She said louder.

Alexandra turns to her partner confused. "What?"

"Eric." She continues. The group turns from the argument to her questionably, Marlene cocks her head forgetting the tablet as it drops to her lap. Violet pauses making sure she can convey it aloud the way it was in her head. "They- _the DUTT_ let us get rid of him, because they want us to replace him." She trails off. "But…"

"But since it was hours ago and we didn't figure it out till' now." Alexandra adds. "They've chosen someone for us."

"Who?" Tris asks. "Someone significant, someone intelligent and or resourceful._ Think._" Violet says scanning the room. "All of you useful qualities like Eric, he was a pain in the ass, yes, but a smart and strong pain."

Andrew stiffens in his seat as a certain intelligent pain comes to mind, but stops himself from saying the name aloud. Fear that it will come true if he even dare utter the name-

"Jeanine Matthews." He curses under his breath, _Betrayed by my own daughter. _

"Absolutely not her," Violet shakes her head. "Though someone _similar_ to her." Andrew has to stop himself from thanking God aloud.

"Intelligence wise?" Cara questions scoffing. "There's no one."  
"She means leader wise?" Tori corrects. "Like Jack Kang."

Alexandra shakes her head. "Iconic in the third and second but so much in the now."

"What about the Amity leader?" Susan asks. "Johanna Reyes."

"Amity?" Caleb chuckles then stops. "No."

Robert frowns. "And why not?"

"Well, it's just that Amity you know. The faction dedicated to peacefulness, kindness, forgiveness, trust and neutrality it's just n-not…" Cara raises her hand superficially asking permission to talk. "It's okay Caleb." She says looking at his guilt ridden face reassuringly. "I'll be blunt for you." She turns to Robert a sweet smile lacing her face. "What my friend here is trying to say is; where's the resourcefulness and intelligence in your faction? What usefulness can your traits provide here, besides that hug fest that you created what else besides farming can you or your faction actually do?"

"_Cara. _Don't be rude." says Will. "Amity and Erudite are on good terms."

"What?" She asks innocently. "I'm being honest not rude. And I asked a perfectly legitimate question." Uriah coughs interjecting. "Well, when Alexandra and I wanted to ask a perfectly legitima-"

"Not the time."

Alexandra chuckles, "I thought it was the perfect time Violet."

"No. But going back to Johanna not to ignore the comments that Cara said but what about her?" Violet continues. "Why not she seems like a plausible switch?"

"Maybe if-" Alexandra cuts herself. "Do you hear that?" Everyone stops, "What are you talking about-" An unrecognized beeping echoes through the room. "That!" Alexandra exclaims. "_Do you all hear that?_"

Violet nods slowly. "Yes, it's the phase 1 sound of…"

"Teleportation." Faces of confusion, surprise and curiosity follow the movements as both girls simultaneously pull down their sleeves and gaze at their wrists. "It's mine." Alexandra declares and everyone sees as the familiar red dot in the girl's wrist flashes rapidly, beeping loudly. The auburn leaps up grabbing the pocket bag from the table pulling out a multiple concealed balls and stuffing them in her pocket.

"What do you mean teleportation?" Caleb asks as the sound grows.

"There's a lot besides anti- aging that this chip can do. When necessary it also teleports it's a science and maths we can't explain."_ Plus most probably magic. _She adds silently

"No, no, no." Cara says. "There has to be an explanation because it's impossible for the physical body matter to dematerialize the binding energy of atoms and probably that of all its nuclei because it would have to be able to overcom-"

"Yes it is." Alexandra says, jumping up and down in place now. "It's just dematerialization and rematerialization."

"It's not that simp-"

"Cara. It is." The blonde opens her mouth then closes it. "Okay, I guess too much has happened so far for me not to believe that."

"True." Susan says then hesitates before asking. "What happens with teleportation?" Alexandra smiles warmly at the Abnegation's boldness. "We're about to find out who got chosen. The DUTT will transport me to the person's location and I'll have to 'unfreeze' them, explain the situation and portal her or him back here."

Suddenly, Alexandra stops jumping and her body starts vibrating. The room watches in awe as the beeping abruptly stops and Alexandra vanishes with a bright, blue flash. "Holy shit!" Peter blinks. "Did that just happened?"

"Language." Andrew says meaning to sound scolding, but it comes out awestruck.

Cara stands, jaw slack and goes to the spot swaying her hands through the air where Alexandra was standing. "Incredible." She breathes after a few seconds. "Can we do that?"

Violet chuckles. "Sounds like something Uriah would ask." Said teen is still staring at the spot like others in disbelieve but utters, "Can we?"

"No, but she'll be back soon you should probably move from there." Cara nods mutely going back to her seat. "We should make room for the newest arrival." Natalie says eventually. "I could move or-" Susan immediately stands. "Of course not, Mrs Prior I'll move."

"No, no one has to move." Violet declares manoeuvring to the hallway door. "We ordered new furniture for Peter and Eric, but didn't get rid of the old ones just in case they became tame or a situation like this happened." Andrew stands to follow, "I'll assist."

"I'm a big girl, Mr Prior. It's just down the hall I got it thanks though."

"Those girl's both scare and amaze me." Zeke says when the door closes. "Couldn't have said it better myself." Will whispers.

"They're lives, they're science, they're ways it's all so foreign to us; to our ways." Cara states, then points to where Alexandra was. "Alexandra just disappeared in front of our eyes. That's impossible." Tris dips her head in agreement. "Yes, it is. That's why this is an opportunity."

"For what? To learn their science?"

"To learn in general I think. You heard what they said we're significant to the future we need to learn and grow, together. Try to understand everything that's happening not only them but us as a community."

Marcus nods. "Wise words, we'll learn a lot from you I expect from this book?" Tris shrugs indifferently. "Maybe, we'll see."

"I'm sorry." Cara says earning everyone's attention. "Edward, that was uncalled for. What I said I mean, us Erudite's sometimes spit fire." The Amity smiles. "All love. I didn't take it to heart Amity always gets a little hate."

"Still, Tris is right. We need to be more understanding as factions and a community and I'm sorry."

Theirs a short- lived settling silence that follows quickly interrupted by Violet bounding through the door pushing a chair in front of her and dragging another behind. She takes both to vacant spot. "These should do it." Marlene and Uriah get up from their seats pushing their couch aside, Marcus, Four, Zeke and Andrew follow suite pushing Peter in his chair and manoeuvring Violet's, and Alexandra's as well.

"There we go." Violet says stroking her bangs out of her eyes and after adjusting her chair one last time looks up to find every eye in the room on her. She blinks at them unable to decipher all the different gazes meanings, "What?" She finally asks. "Did I miss something?"

Before anyone can say anything else the room erupts in wind the familiar purple/ black portal appearing and stumbling out is none other than…

* * *

Johanna Reyes all but crashes into the room Alexandra rocketing after her. "Woo, what a rush. Never gets old."

Johanna Reyes is a short dark skinned woman her hair, a dark flowy brown reaches her neck matching her eyes. The woman is wrapped in a blue, green shawl which covers the most part of her outfit a long green patch dress.

"Miss Johanna Reyes! Welcome to the living room- I mean reading room." Alexandra bellows spreading her arms wide. "This is the gang."

"We're not a gang." Violet declares rounding the chair to the leader. "Miss Reyes leader to Amity, pleasure. I'm Violet." The disheveled woman straightens, taking in the room than Violet.

"Mouthpiece." She answers shaking her outstretched hand. "I am the representative of Amity, or Mouthpiece. I've heard of you." She pauses glancing at Alexandra who still beams at her. "Your partner was very thorough in her explanations I understand the situation _and more._"

She glances over the room. "Greetings all."She and Alexandra rotate round the room Alexandra introducing her as they go. When they reach Edward he leaps up from his chair. "Ma'am!"

She pauses surprised than looks him over. "Edward? Correct? I almost didn't recognize you in this… attire." Alexandra intervenes smiling apologetically. "Our fault, sorry. Didn't put much yellow or red in his closet." Johanna nods and after a short conversion, they continue finally finishing after a too long linger on 'representative council member' Marcus.

Theirs's a distinguished shift in the atmosphere of the room. The room settles accepting the new 'gang' member easily Violet slightly begrudgingly after Johanna's argumentativeness results in her removing Peter's restraints. Johanna argued using a quote from Amity and insisting 'I will not stay in an environment that shackles each other's as if they're wild animals.' Peter smirks rubbing at his wrists, "Thank you Johanna." He murmurs. Tris has a hard time deciding who to glare at Mouthpiece Johanna who was already proving provoking or smirking Peter who only increases in annoyance.

Alexandra ensures Johanna's comfortable before strolling back to her seat. She notices Marlene and Christina once again hunched over the tablet and yanks the device from their grasps, collapsing on to her seat and grinning smugly in answer to their matching scowls.

"Thought she'd never leave." Uriah says snuggling comfortably into his seat as Christina ambles back to her seat defeated. "It was getting cramped with the three of us."

Marlene rolls her eyes, then states. "We were bonding."

"Over vampires and werewolves." He mutters soundlessly.

Susan exchanges a smile with Christina as she sits with Cara and Will again, the three quickly falling into discussion. _Everyone's constantly moving_. She muses watching Tori take an empty single chair leaving Zeke, Four and Tris sitting together. In the past hours everyone's changed places from the floor to different seats it felt slightly disconcerting.

Abnegation was so settling, besides the Choosing ceremony this was the only time she was surrounded by so much chaos. She's not sure if she_ disliked_ it. Susan glances up at Caleb who scribbles furiously into his notepad, his eyebrows creased and smiles fondly. _He doesn't seem to want to switch seats at least._

"So now we read?" Johanna asks lifting her notepad and pen in question. "Yes," Violet drops the book in Four's lap before sitting in her own seat. "Me?" The instructor questions.

"Makes sense, 'Welcome to Dauntless' and all." She answers

He takes a deep breath. "I'm opposed but realize I don't have a choice." Violet smirks then glances at Tris. "He's a keeper."

Alexandra smiles half-heartedly at Four, the original plan for today was to get her friend back, but she barely sat a few hours with Four until everything got so messy but couples will be couples she understood. She still had time.

_But, in the meantime._ Alexandra turns to stare unbashfully at an unrestrained Peter. _I always have time for this._

Four says. "Let's read."

**Chapter 7**

**When all the initiates stand on solid ground again, Lauren and Four lead us down a narrow tunnel. The walls are made of stone, and the ceiling slopes, so I feel like I am descending deep into the heart of the earth. **

"Aw yes." Natalie awes in remembrance. Dauntless has always held a tug at her heart that hasn't left. "It must have been very hard to construct such a place, it was very amazing from what I remember at Visiting Day." She corrects quickly. Her age is making her somehow more and less protective of her identity at the same time.

**The tunnel is lit at long intervals, so in the dark space between each dim lamp, I fear that I am lost until a shoulder bumps mine. In the circles of light I am safe again. The Erudite boy in front of me stops abruptly, and I smack into him, hitting my nose on his shoulder.**

"_Real _mature Will." Christina smirks teasingly glancing up. "One more time guys." Will shoots them a dirty look as people laugh. "I dare you. It's not me!"

**I stumble back and rub my nose as I recover my senses. The whole crowd has stopped, and our three leaders stand in front of us, arms folded. "This is where we divide," Lauren says. "The Dauntless-born initiates are with me. I assume you don't need a tour of the place." She smiles and beckons toward the Dauntless-born initiates. They break away from the group and dissolve into the shadows. **

No one notices Uriah's eyes pop out and jaw drop until he blurts out. "Whoa, stop the train." The reader shoots him a withering glare. "What? So you don't notice any of us?" Uriah gestures to him, Lauren and Marlene.

"No."

"All I have to say is rude, just rude."

**I watch the last heel pass out of the light and look at those of us who are left.**

"Your way to observant for your own good." says Christina.

**Most of the initiates were from Dauntless, so only nine people remain. Of those, I am the only Abnegation transfer, and there are no Amity transfers.**

"For good reason, they don't belong there."

"Says?" Edward and Tris ask simultaneously. Peter gives him a coy look, "Try me, she's shown her little worth how about you." _Little banjo strummin' softy._

Tris pauses realizing that those are the kindest words she's ever heard from Peter.

**The rest are from Erudite and, surprisingly, Candor. It must require bravery to be honest all the time. **

Marlene smiles from her upside down position on the couch. "You're so sweet, Tris."

**I wouldn't know.**

"I would say it does." Christina answers. "I mean as an external, non- bias, third party, ex- Candor I think it does."

Tris rolls her eyes. "Non- bias, sure."

**Four addresses us next. "Most of the time I work in the control room, but for the next few weeks, I am your instructor," he says. "My name is Four."**

Alexandra breaks out in laughter, "Wow this name actual stuck."

Four's eyes settle on her, anyone else would shrink into a ball and stop laughing immediately but Alexandra couldn't stop.

"What's so funny?"

"I remember when it started. The name it was just a nickname than suddenly it stuck."

Christina asks meekly. "Did you come up with it?" _The name that resulted in me being completely, and utterly embarrassed._

"No, no it was Am-" The laughter dies in her throat and she trails off sadly. "Um," She coughs. "An old friend."

"Friend?" Caleb asks.

"Our old instructor." Zeke corrects. "He and Four were close, he and Alexa were a thing." Alexandra snorts remembering the _gay _instructor. "We most definitely were not."

Now it's Four's turn to laugh. "Were too." Alexandra rolls her eyes. "We so weren't."

"Okay, okay," Zeke says cutting them off. "This could literally go on forever so best stop now. There was a rumour about it but, we all knew it was nothing."

"That didn't stop the teasing."

"He knew your secret didn't he?" Zeke asks ignoring her remark.

"He was a good instructor, a good friend, and a good _guesser._"

"Meaning?" Caleb pries.

"He tried, knew I didn't belong but could never figure it out." Zeke nods. "I don't think anyone would ever guess the truth."

**Christina asks, "Four? Like the number?"**

"Yes, yes!" Uriah bellows. "I heard about this; _brave initiate faces the ruthless instructor._ Very brave on your part Christina."

**"Yes," Four says. "Is there a problem?"**

**"No."**

**"Good. We're about to go into the Pit, which you will someday learn to love. It—"**

**Christina snickers. "The Pit? Clever name."**

"Oh my goodness." Marlene almost falls from her position she straightens up so fast. "It's about to go down."

**Four walks up to Christina and leans his face close to hers. His eyes narrow, and for a second he just stares at her.**

Laughter vibrates through the room. "It wasn't funny," Christina wails trying to avoid the instructors gaze. "It was terrifying."

**"What's your name?" he asks quietly. "Christina," she squeaks. "Well, Christina, if I wanted to put up with Candor smart-mouths, I would have joined their faction," he hisses. **

**"The first lesson you will learn from me is to keep your mouth shut. Got that?" She nods.**

The laughter increases to a roar as most of the room joins in. "Came straight from the source." Uriah says. "That _was_ terrifying."

"Made me feel like I was there." Marlene cries. Christina flushes.

**Four starts toward the shadow at the end of the tunnel. The crowd of initiates moves on in silence. "What a jerk," she mumbles.**

Christina shuts her eyes tightly and buries her face in Will's shoulder when Four doesn't continue reading. "Excuse me."

She moves her head enough that only half of it shows and cracks an eye open. "Would you believe me if I said I meant to say I _like_ jerky?" She questions her voice slightly muffled.

"Let's leave it at that." He says. The former initiates snickers are barely being contained Tris covers her mouth as laughter threatens to bubble over, Uriah, Marlene and Will's eyes water.

**"I guess he doesn't like to be laughed at," I reply.**

Tris blushes seeing Four lips quirk up as he reads.

**It would probably be wise to be careful around Four, I realize. He seemed placid to me on the platform, but something about that stillness makes me wary now.**

Four hesitates before continuing. He doesn't want to question Tris thoughts in front of a crowd, considering everyone was critical enough of every thought concerning them because of their relationship.

**Four pushes a set of double doors open, and we walk into the place he called "the Pit." "Oh," whispers Christina. "I get it."**

Four mentally scoffs. _I didn't hear an apology._

**"Pit" is the best word for it. It is an underground cavern so huge I can't see the other end of it from where I stand, at the bottom. Uneven rock walls rise several stories above my head. Built into the stone walls are places for food, clothing, supplies, and leisure activities. Narrow paths and steps carved from rock connect them. There are no barriers to keep people from falling over the side.**

"I can't begin to image that." Johanna says pensively. Alexandra perks in her seat, "I have pictures."

"Of course she does." Lynn breathes before looking at the TV screen that lights up as Alexandra's fingers dance across the tablet. "Completely forgot about them." She adds as pictures of Dauntless fill the screen the Pit, multiple caverns and halls, the Hub, things they haven't read about yet.

Peter's brows draw together. "Where did you get this?" Most of the pictures are filled with people so they weren't taken incognito, but out in the open. "I'm everywhere." Alexandra announces nonchalant. "People are just really unobservant."

Peter shakes his head leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "You creep me out, you know that." She smiles charmingly. "Yeah…"

**A slant of orange light stretches across one of the rock walls. Forming the roof of the Pit are panes of glass and, above them, a building that lets in sunlight. It must have looked like just another city building when we passed it on the train. Blue lanterns dangle at random intervals above the stone paths, similar to the ones that lit the Choosing room. They grow brighter as the sunlight dies.**

**People are everywhere, all dressed in black, all shouting and talking, expressive, gesturing. I don't see any elderly people in the crowd. Are there any old Dauntless? Do they not last that long, or are they just sent away when they can't jump off moving trains anymore?**

Tris hand finds Four's shoulder, "What is it?"

"I figured it's a bit more complicated than that, there must be a system."

"What happens?" Christina asks.

"It's not complicated. It's cruel."

"Four." Zeke protests. This the argument that the two have had multiple times of the system of Dauntless, Zeke always the reasoning adverse. "It's the way it's always been."

Four turns ignores his friend and addressing the room. "We're the only faction that abandons their old."

"Wha-" Cara starts.

"When you can't do a cartwheel anymore, or jump on a train or… be able to hold yourself in a fight."

"_What happens?_" Christina repeats when he doesn't continue. "Get lost or kill yourself."

"That's an exaggeration." Zeke argues weakly.

"No." Tori says. "It's not, you know it's not."

"Get lost? As in factionless..?" Tris asks trying not to sound alarmed.

"Yes." It's an unspoken truth in Dauntless. Most choose to ignore it until it's inevitably unavoidable it's every Dauntless' real biggest fear. None of the others respond or ask questions unwilling to acknowledge it and Four rolls his eyes at they're deliberate avoidant stares.

**A group of children run down a narrow path with no railing, so fast my heart pounds, and I want to scream at them to slow down before they get hurt. A memory of the orderly Abnegation streets appears in my mind: a line of people on the right passing a line of people on the left, small smiles and inclined heads and silence. **

Susan smiles wistfully, though she can admit that she's grown comfortable with the hustle and bustle here surrounded by all these people she realises how much she misses the simplicity and calmness of Abnegation.

**My stomach squeezes. But there is something wonderful about Dauntless chaos.**

"Oh gosh, your just so adorable." Marlene coos. Tris shakes her head flushing slightly, she hated herself for being unable to control it sometimes.

**"If you follow me," says Four, "I'll show you the chasm." He waves us forward. Four's appearance seems tame from the front, by Dauntless standards, but when he turns around, I see a tattoo peeking out from the collar of his T-shirt.**

"Tris's narration is unbelievable." Uriah chuckles. "Seriously, where do you come up with this stuff? Four seems tame from the front but the tattoo peeking out indicates what? He's a wild Dauntless animal."

"You try being me for a day." Tris challenges.

"Never mind, rather not."

**He leads us to the right side of the Pit, which is conspicuously dark. I squint and see that the floor I stand on now ends at an iron barrier. As we approach the railing, I hear a roar—water, fast-moving water, crashing against rocks. I look over the side. The floor drops off at a sharp angle, and several stories below us is a river. Gushing water strikes the wall beneath me and sprays upward. To my left, the water is calmer, but to my right, it is white, battling with rock.**

As Four reads pictures of the Chasm flickers across the screen from all angles, the fast moving deathly river water and the calmer side. Edward's eyes widen in shock. _Deadly and gorgeous._

"It's amazing." Susan voices. "Amazing, is the word." Tris agrees, then stops suddenly experiencing the strangest feeling of Déjà vu.

**"The chasm reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and idiocy!" Four shouts. "A daredevil jump off this ledge will end your life. It has happened before and it will happen again. You've been warned."**

"Why would they jump?" Caleb questions.

"Stupid, wannabe, extremist daredevil's for one." Tori answers, then recalls her conversation with Tris about her brother and Al. "The rest you'll find out as we go along."

**"This is incredible," says Christina, as we all move away from the railing. "Incredible is the word," I say, nodding.**

"Oh." Tris murmurs._ That's where the feeling came from._

**Four leads the group of initiates across the Pit toward a gaping hole in the wall. The room beyond is well-lit enough that I can see where we're going: a dining hall full of people and clattering silverware. When we walk in, the Dauntless inside stand. They applaud. They stamp their feet. They shout. The noise surrounds me and fills me. Christina smiles, and a second later, so do I.**

"Welcoming." Andrew says. _Unnecessarily loud and obnoxious welcoming, but all the same._

**We look for empty seats. Christina and I discover a mostly empty table at the side of the room, and I find myself sitting between her and Four.**

"Ooh," Alexandra sways clasping her hands together in excitement. And so begins the epic love story."

**In the center of the tab-**

"Wait, wait the title."

"Alexandra."

"Four." She mimics in the same groaning tone causing everyone to snicker. "How about: The Forbidden Love Story of Four and Tris."

"The Initiate and The Instructor." Uriah adds.

"No, keep it simple," Christina says. "The Die Virgin's Adventures in Love." The supress of snickers bursts into full on laughter echoing throughout the room. It floated through the room contagiously until even Tris started giggling.

"Really?" Four asks staring down at Tris whose cheeks are flushed red with humour. "Shut up." She murmurs as the laughter dies down. _They'll never let this go._

**In the center of the table is a platter of food I don't recognize: circular pieces of meat wedged between round bread slices. I pinch one between my fingers, unsure what to make of it.**

Four growls as the chuckles start again. "I swear you all laugh every three minutes."

**Four nudges me with his elbow. "It's beef," he says. "Put this on it." He passes me a small bowl full of red sauce.**

"Hmm, ever so helpful." Alexandra says. "I wonder why."

**"You've never had a hamburger before?" asks Christina, her eyes wide. "No," I say. "Is that what it's called?"**

**"Stiffs eat plain food," Four says, nodding at Christina.**

**"Why?" she asks. I shrug. "Extravagance is considered self-indulgent and unnecessary." She smirks. "No wonder you left."**

**"Yeah," I say, rolling my eyes. "It was just because of the food."**

**The corner of Four's mouth twitches.**

Marlene squeals from her seat. "Oh does? I wonder why."

"Marlene, please." Tris grumbles burying her face in her hands. "Yes, Marlene please." Alexandra says in the same tone before grinning widely. "Please continue she means!"

"Yes!" Marlene cheers in agreement.

**The doors to the cafeteria open, and a hush falls over the room. I look over my shoulder. A young man walks in, and it is quiet enough that I can hear his footsteps. His face is pierced in so many places I lose count, and his hair is long, dark, and greasy. But that isn't what makes him look menacing. It is the coldness of his eyes as they sweep across the room.**

"Oh! If only Eric was here to hear his beautiful description." Peter chuckles. "For once I have to agree with him," Will nods. "Imagine his face right now."

"Uh, arrogant and cocky." Lauren answers. "It kind of a flattering description if you ask me. As if the evil king just entered the room."

"I agree with that." Four says.

**"Who's that?" hisses Christina.**

Christina has to stop herself from pointing out how similar that sentence was to a Twilight video she saw. _'Who are they?" Bella asked._

**"His name is Eric," says Four. "He's a Dauntless leader."**

**"Seriously? But he's so young." Four gives her a grave look. "Age doesn't matter here."**

Christina pouts._ A grave look, come on. This guy._

**I can tell she's about to ask what I want to ask: Then what does matter? But Eric's eyes stop scanning the room, and he starts towards a table**

Cara rolls her eyes chewing irritably at the end of her pen, feeling crestfallen. From talking about teleportation to obsessing over a couple what a downgrade. _Eric's walking to a table; wow. Is it a plot twit? No, it's most probably Tris's table._

**He starts toward our table and drops into the seat next to Four. He offers no greeting, so neither do we.**

"I was honestly momentarily frozen with fear." Christina says feigning nonchalance. "I can admit this now that he's not here."

**"Well, aren't you going to introduce me?" he asks, nodding to Christina and me.** **Four says, "This is Tris and Christina."**

"Oh, he remembers your names." Uriah declares. "That's dedication."

"The first jumper, a blabber mouth ex- Candor." Four answers raising his eyebrows. "Hard to forget."

Uriah waves him off. "We get it. You were still in the decision making phase."

"D-Deciso- maki- No!"

"Four," Alexandra says. "Calm down, we get it decision making process, no need to explain."

"I give up." He says as the two laugh.

**"Ooh, a Stiff," says Eric, smirking at me. His smile pulls at the piercings in his lips, making the holes they occupy wider, and I wince. **

"That's uncomfortable." Susan murmurs.

**"We'll see how long you last." I mean to say something—to assure him that I will last, maybe—but words fail me. I don't understand why, but I don't want Eric to look at me any longer than he already has. I don't want him to look at me ever again.**

The other initiates all nod in agreement.

"I understand that better than anyone." Christina says wincing. Will rubs her back sympathetically.

**He taps his fingers against the table. His knuckles are scabbed over, right where they would split if he punched something too hard. "What have you been doing lately, Four?" he asks.**

**Four lifts a shoulder. "Nothing, really," he says.**

"So, you two just sat there listening to their conversation." Peter asks dryly.

Christina and Tris exchange an awkward did-we-actually-do-that look. "Yeah," says Christina, nodding. "Basically."

"Mm mm." Peter hums, then coughs something sounding similar to _stalkers._

**Are they friends? My eyes flick between Eric and Four. Everything Eric did—sitting here, asking about Four—suggests that they are, but the way Four sits, tense as pulled wire, suggests they are something else. Rivals, maybe, but how could that be, if Eric is a leader and Four is not?**

Peter lets out a low whistle. "This Four thing seems to be a real problem for you?"

"I was just curious."

"Really," Peter asks. "Because you sound pretty overly curious, verging on obsessed."  
"I was overwhelmed."

"Ok." Peter lifts his hands in mock defence.

**"Max tells me he keeps trying to meet with you, and you don't show up," Eric says. "He requested that I find out what's going on with you."**

**Four looks at Eric for a few seconds before saying, "Tell him that I am satisfied with the position I currently hold."**

**"So he wants to give you a job."**

**The rings in Eric's eyebrow catch the light. Maybe Eric perceives Four as a potential threat to his position. My father says that those who want power and get it live in terror of losing it. That's why we have to give power to those who do not want it.**

"How very wise of you, Bea- Tris." Her father acknowledges grinning.

"That's probably exactly what it is." Christina says. "That's what we all thought throughout initiation at least."

Zeke nods in agreement. "That's been Eric, since our initiation too when Four was number 1."

Alexandra's eyebrows draw together. "Um, excuse me." She lifts her hand similar to Cara ealier then proceeds to talk anyway. "Number 2 you mean. Yours truly was number 1."

"You don't count, you're technically dead."

"Wow, no respect for the deceased I see." She scowls. "I'm number 1 even in the grave, sweetheart."

**"So it would seem," Four says. "And you aren't interested."**

**"I haven't been interested for two years."**

"What was the job?"

"Same one it's always been; leader." Four answers Edward.

"You didn't want that?!" The Amity exclaims. "I think the book just answered that." He says ignoring the incredulous stares from the others. Marcus stares at him for a long time after, in deep thought.

**"Well," says Eric. "Let's hope he gets the point, then." He claps Four on the shoulder, a little too hard, and gets up. When he walks away, I slouch immediately. I had not realized that I was so tense.**

Christina recoils in reminiscence. "That guy makes me feel like I'm sitting on a bed of needles."

**"Are you two…friends?" I say, unable to contain my curiosity. "We were in the same initiate class," he says. "He transferred from Erudite."**

**All thoughts of being careful around Four leave me. "Were you a transfer too?"**

"Death wish." Will states.

"Why?" Cara asks her brother.

"Four can be mean." He says simply earning him multiple chuckles, "Mean being the word I can say without getting killed." Will adds sensing a steely glare.

** "I thought I would only have trouble with the Candor asking too many questions," he says coldly. "Now I've got Stiffs, too?"**

_Everyone listens attentively when Four reads,_ Violet noted. _Sure, they made more comments but maybe hearing a chapter where someone is so prominent be the one to read is better. Hearing Four repeat all the things he said that day, with the visual effects adds more… affect._

For hours she's noticed page, after page being filled. Right now, everyone's hands were still and eyes focused.

** "It must be because you're so approachable," I say flatly. "You know. Like a bed of nails."**

A chorus of 'oohs' follows. "Tris got you good." Zeke murmurs. Four sighs, quickly growing annoyed with their constant chattiness. "Ok, that's enough."

He doesn't see his father's look of astonishment at the Dauntless immediate co-operation.

**He stares at me, and I don't look away. He isn't a dog, but the same rules apply.**

A low snigger follows. "Dog?" Four questions raising an eyebrow at Tris. "It's not what it sounds like."

**Looking away is submissive. Looking him in the eye is a challenge. It's my choice. Heat rushes into my cheeks. What will happen when this tension breaks?**

"Sacred Energy eXchange." Alexandra mutters under her breath, mischievously.

**But he just says, "Careful, Tris."**

"He's going to kill you." Caleb says, "That was a threat." Tris puffs a laugh bemused by her brother.

**My stomach drops like I just swallowed a stone. A Dauntless member at another table calls out Four's name, and I turn to Christina. She raises both eyebrows. "What?" I ask.**

**"I'm developing a theory."**

**"And it is?" She picks up her hamburger, grins, and says, "That you have a death wish."**

"It's funny," Christina says a grin identical to that day spreading across her face. "From that fateful day to dating."

"Ironic." Cara hums nodding thoughtfully.

**After dinner, Four disappears without a word. **

_Not even a description of what her first burger tastes like._ Uriah mentally sighs, _Sad…_

**Eric leads us down a series of hallways without telling us where we're going. I don't know why a Dauntless leader would be responsible for a group of initiates, but maybe it is just for tonight.**

"Aaw, you wish." Tori says.

"Is he with you a lot?" Johanna asks, her first book related question.

Tris pulls a face. "Practically the whole initiation, and trust us even with the description he's even more unbearable in person."

"Tris."

"Mom, you saw Eric attack me."

"That doesn't mean you have to stoop to his level." Tris nods defeated.

**At the end of each hallway is a blue lamp, but between them its dark, and I have to be careful not to stumble over uneven ground. Christina walks beside me in silence. No one told us to be quiet, but none of us speak. Eric stops in front of a wooden door and folds his arms. **

**We gather around him. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Eric," he says. "I am one of five leaders of the Dauntless. We take the initiation process very seriously here, so I volunteered to oversee most of your training."**

"Makes me sick even thinking about it." Lynn declares.

**The thought makes me nauseous. The idea that a Dauntless leader will oversee our initiation is bad enough, but the fact that it's Eric makes it seem even worse.**

"You hardly know him." Robert argues. "I mean going back to that time, you didn't know him yet."

"It was kind of just a feeling, feeling." Tris explains. "If that makes sense. Sometimes you just know when you're not going to agree with someone."

"And Eric projects that disagreeable feeling to everyone." Christina adds.

**"Some ground rules," he says. "You have to be in the training room by eight o'clock every day. Training takes place every day from eight to six, with a break for lunch. You are free to do whatever you like after six. You will also get some time off between each stage of initiation."**

**The phrase "do whatever you like" sticks in my mind. At home, I could never do what I wanted, not even for an evening. I had to think of other people's needs first. I don't even know what I like to do.**

"That sounds so sad." Peter says. "Yeah, dedicating your life so much to the care and benefit of others that you don't have time to think of yourself_ is so sad._" Violet answers sarcastically. Peter scoffs but doesn't answer.

**"You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a Dauntless," Eric adds. "Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. You will notice that there are ten beds and only nine of you. We anticipated that a higher proportion of you would make it this far."**

**"But we started with twelve," protests Christina. I close my eyes and wait for the reprimand. She needs to learn to stay quiet.**

"Hey!"

"You learned." Will says tugging lightly at Christina's hair. "Kind of."

"Stop talking."

"Yep."

**"There is always at least one transfer who doesn't make it to the compound," says Eric, picking at his cuticles. He shrugs. "Anyway, in the first stage of initiation, we keep transfers and Dauntless-born initiates separate, but that doesn't mean you are evaluated separately. At the end of initiation, your rankings will be determined in comparison with the Dauntless-born initiates. And they are better than you are already. So I expect—"**

**"Rankings?" asks the mousy-haired Erudite girl to my right. "Why are we ranked?"**

**Eric smiles, and in the blue light, his smile looks wicked, like it was cut into his face with a knife. **

Theirs a wave of tremors throughout the room

**"Your ranking serves two purposes," he says. "The first is that it determines the order in which you will select a job after initiation. There are only a few desirable positions available."**

**My stomach tightens. I know by looking at his smile, like I knew the second I entered the aptitude test room, that something bad is about to happen. "The second purpose," he says, "is that only the top ten initiates are made members."**

"What?" Andrew exclaims. Theirs a stream of questions coming from all the non- Dauntless, and the Dauntless all talking over one another trying to answer.

"If you'll just let me continue." Four bellows. The room goes silent.

**Pain stabs my stomach. We all stand still as statues. And then Christina says, "What?"**

**"There are eleven Dauntless-borns, and nine of you," Eric continues. "Four initiates will be cut at the end of stage one. The remainder will be cut after the final test."**

**That means that even if we make it through each stage of initiation, six initiates will not be members. I see Christina look at me from the corner of my eye, but I can't look back at her. My eyes are fixed on Eric and will not move. My odds, as the smallest initiate, as the only Abnegation transfer, are not good.**

"Yeah, that reveal at the beginning with the Tris being number 1 totally ruins the surprise." Alexandra pouts.

"So does the Tris and Four dating reveal." Christina adds. "I wish we'd rather figured it out." Violet shakes her head. "Yeah, but that's important for future references."

"Well, it's agreed that spoilers ruin the fun."

** "What do we do if we're cut?" Peter says. "You leave the Dauntless compound," says Eric indifferently, "and live factionless."**

Jaws drop and eyes widen in sync.

Susan's eyes mist for a second. "That can't be."

"Yeah," Cara nods dazed. "Are they allowed to do that? Why don't the other factions know?"

"They know. We know." Marcus says. "We aren't allowed to interfere."

"But so young?" Cara questions. "I thought none of the other factions except Erudite do that."

"Erudite?" Tris questions.

"Well, if you're not smart enough."

"That's their rules." Johanna says. "Nothing we can do." Edward actually stops smiling, his peaceful demeanour failing him. "That's unfair."

"Tell us about it." Christina groans.

"I-Is that o-one… of the r-reasons?" Susan questions.

"Reasons for wha-" Tori trails off. _The jumps into the Chasm. _"Yes." Silence descends, Four's the first to snap out of it.

**The mousy-haired girl clamps her hand over her mouth and stifles a sob. I remember the factionless man with the gray teeth, snatching the bag of apples from my hands. His dull, staring eyes.**

Alexandra scowls, and Tris has the decency to look guilty.

**But instead of crying, like the Erudite girl, I feel colder. Harder. I will be a member. I will.**

"And she does, book over." Marlene declares. "And then she dies," Violet finishes, smiling. "Book not over."

"Agreed." Tris says.

**"But that's…not fair!" the broad-shouldered Candor girl, Molly, says. Even though she sounds angry, she looks terrified. "If we had known—"**

**"Are you saying that if you had known this before the Choosing Ceremony, you wouldn't have chosen Dauntless?" Eric snaps. "Because if that's the case, you should get out now. If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward." Eric pushes the door to the dormitory open. "You chose us," he says. "Now we have to choose you." I lie in bed and listen to nine people breathing.**

Johanna eyes widen. "Are you sharing with everyone?"

"Yes." Marcus feels like strangling the Dauntless leaders. "Preposterous."

"It was terrible." Tris states.

**I have never slept in the same room as a boy before, but here I have no other option, unless I want to sleep in the hallway. Everyone else changed into the clothes the Dauntless provided for us, but I sleep in my Abnegation clothes, which still smell like soap and fresh air, like home.**

Uriah sighs. "Oh Tris."

**I used to have my own room. I could see the front lawn from the window, and beyond it, the foggy skyline. I am used to sleeping in silence. Heat swells behind my eyes as I think of home, and when I blink, a tear slips out. I cover my mouth to stifle a sob. I can't cry, not here. I have to calm down.**

An awkward silence settles in the air. Tris stares pensively at her shoes, pointedly avoiding eye contact.

Peter opens his mouth his eyes shining wickedly, quickly closing when Alexandra shoots him a deathly glare he's never seen on her before.

Tris admits to being mortified of her feelings everyone was sad, and crying and depressed that night but no one else had that night documented and published for all to see. _How did they know? _She wonders. She feels her cheeks redden, feeling as if every eye in the room is on her.

**It will be all right here. I can look at my reflection whenever I want. I can befriend Christina, and cut my hair short, and let other people clean up their own messes.**

"We were all there, the first night is the hardest." Christina manages.

**My hands shake and the tears come faster now, blurring my vision.**

**It doesn't matter that the next time I see my parents, on Visiting Day, they will barely recognize me—if they come at all. It doesn't matter that I ache at even a split-second memory of their faces. Even Caleb's, despite how much his secrets hurt me.**

Tris ducks her head further hoping her hair is covering the threat of tears about to spill now. Caleb and his parents share a meaningful look, sad smiles grazing their faces.

**I match my inhales to the inhales of the other initiates, and my exhales to their exhales. It doesn't matter.**

"It does…" Tris admits lifting her head slightly. "I was lying to myself. It mattered, a lot."

**A strangled sound interrupts the breathing, followed by a heavy sob. Bed springs squeal as a large body turns, and a pillow muffles the sobs, but not enough. They come from the bunk next to mine—they belong to a Candor boy, Al, the largest and broadest of all the initiates. He is the last person I expected to break down.**

Peter grunts. _And he was loud, jeez that guy would not shut up._

**His feet are just inches from my head. I should comfort him—I should want to comfort him, because I was raised that way. Instead I feel disgust.**

The Abnegation wear matching horror stricken looks. "Tris." Her mother exclaims softly appalled. The others seem to be waiting for an explanation.

**Someone who looks so strong shouldn't act so weak. Why can't he just keep his crying quiet like the rest of us? I swallow hard. If my mother knew what I was thinking, I know what look she would give me.**

**The corners of her mouth turned down. Her eyebrows set low over her eyes—not scowling, almost tired.**

"Just like that." Will asks nodding towards Natalie.

"Yep." Tris answers without looking. "And that." She's looking at her father now.

"And Caleb." Christina says staring at her brother. "Spitting image of his parents."

Uriah nods. "It's the whole family."

**I drag the heel of my hand over my cheeks. Al sobs again. I almost feel the sound grate in my own throat. He is just inches away from me—I should touch him.**

"Oh poor Al." Christina murmurs. "One of us should have done something."

"Yeah, Tris." Will says. "We all heard him all nine of us no one tried to comfort him no reason to feel guilty." Tris nods but feels an old tug of guilt blossoming at the pit of her stomach. "That's true."

The Abnegation all stay silent, Tris's parents still looking forlorn.

**No. I put my hand down and roll onto my side, facing the wall. No one has to know that I don't want to help him. I can keep that secret buried.**

"So much for the secret." Tris murmurs embarrassed._ I was supposed to take that to the grave._

**My eyes shut and I feel the pull of sleep, but every time I come close, I hear Al again.**

**Maybe my problem isn't that I can't go home. I will miss my mother and father and Caleb and evening firelight and the clack of my mother's knitting needles, but that is not the only reason for this hollow feeling in my stomach. **

**My problem might be that even if I did go home, I wouldn't belong there, among people who give without thinking and care without trying. The thought makes me grit my teeth. I gather the pillow around my ears to block out Al's crying, and fall asleep with a circle of moisture pressed to my cheek.**

"And so concludes Dauntless Beginnings." Four declares.

Uriah watches as Four closes the book. "Things are getting heavy."

"The upcoming chapter's is when the shit really starts hitting the fan." Violet says. "Who says things like that?" Cara asks.

"It's an expression."

"Where do you come from that that's an expression?!"

* * *

**So... I'm back!**

**I promised you all I wouldn't give up on this story and I'm back. Thank you to all that stayed, I'm so happy to say I only lost 3 followers in this long editing journey. Glad to be back. I still swear I'm gonna finish this.**

**Now the story has been edited, but not much changed. I added a rough cover image of what Alexandra and Violet look like, the reading room is different and the hallway of bedrooms has gaming and entertaining rooms now. Also, they use notepads to take note of things. Nothing changed so much that you can't catch on.**

**Again, I'm so, so, so sorry for the long wait. But I love you guys, so much positive feedback since I've been gone; thank you.**

**Review&amp;Favorite I wannna know what you guys think. **

_**xoxoIvoryOutxoxo**_


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Bea- Tris is Born**

"Susan." said Alexandra suddenly. Stopping Zeke as he's about to take the book from Four. "How about it Suzzie? You want to read?"

_What is with these nicknames?_ Caleb wonders.

"Um," Said girl blushes as all eyes fall on her. "I'm not much of a-"

"It would be really helpful of you too." Alexandra adds. "I'd be glad too." Susan says after a beat an all Abnegation caring smile spreading across her face. Zeke goes to chuck the book but Four nudges him in the side. "Precious cargo." Violet replies at his confused look. He rolls his eyes getting up with a loud grunt, and makes a show of slowly trekking to Susan and handing the book over dramatically slow. Susan waits patiently until she can finally wrap her hands round it. "Thank you."

She looks up at attentive eyes and stills before fumbling to find the page.

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**"THE FIRST THING you will learn today is how to shoot a gun. The second thing is how to win a fight." Four presses a gun into my palm without looking at me and keeps walking.**

"Very straight to the point. What is this the next day?" Cara asks.

Tris nods. "Yes."

**"Thankfully, if you are here, you already know how to get on and off a moving train, so I don't need to teach you that." I shouldn't be surprised that the Dauntless expect us to hit the ground running, but I anticipated more than six hours of rest before the running began. My body is still heavy from sleep.**

Caleb chuckles. "We woke up early at Erudite too. 6am almost every day for a while during initiation."

"But you all slept early." Cara interjects.

"It's dependent on how late you call early."

**"Initiation is divided into three stages. We will measure your progress and rank you according to your performance in each stage. The stages are not weighed equally in determining your final rank, so it is possible, though difficult, to drastically improve your rank over time."**

"That's not right." Cara states. "The one that counts more is obviously physical, so even if the person's a complete idiot but a perfect athlete they can make it?"

Four crosses his arms shrugging. "I don't make the rules." She scoffs inaudibly adding. "You seem to have endless chances too."

**I stare at the weapon in my hand. Never in my life did I expect to hold a gun, let alone fire one. It feels dangerous to me, as if just by touching it, I could hurt someone.**

"I would say I'm proud of your thoughts Tris but, you need to get in gear." Tris pauses than looks at her father shocked. "Competitions tough."

"_Dad?_" She drags the 'a' her voice sounding both suspicious and curious.

"I'm trying to support you in this and as your father I need to tell you to get in gear."

"Wow." Tris puffs a laugh. "Okay, then I hope past book me will." Her father nods firmly earning another genuine laugh. Natalie beams shyly at him.

**"We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we define as the failure to act in the midst of fear," says Four.**

"Meaning?" Robert questions.

"The more prepared you are, the more you're able to react in unexpected, fearful situations?" Tris answers uncertainly glancing at Four who nods his head from side to side. "Basically."

**"Therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way. The first stage is primarily physical; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental."**

**"But what…" Peter yawns through his words. "What does firing a gun have to do with…bravery?" Four flips the gun in his hand, presses the barrel to Peter's forehead, and clicks a bullet into place. Peter freezes with his lips parted, the yawn dead in his mouth.**

Susan stops reading her eyes widening to the size of saucers. All heads turn to face the instructor. He shrugs arms still crossed and rolls his eyes, offering no response. Peter glares petulantly at Four the snickers from some in the room obviously towards him.

**"Wake. Up," Four snaps. "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it."**

The snickers increase. "Weak." Will murmurs.

**He lowers the gun. Once the immediate threat is gone, Peter's green eyes harden. I'm surprised he can stop himself from responding, after speaking his mind all his life in Candor, but he does, his cheeks red.**

Peter glares at Tris much like the day he looked at Edward before he forked him.

"Just telling it like it is."

**"And to answer your question…you are far less likely to soil your pants and cry for your mother if you're prepared to defend yourself."**

Alexandra gives Peter a warning look which he ignores instead grumbling loudly. She's positive she hears something along the lines of, "Asshole."

**Four stops walking at the end of the row and turns on his heel. "This is also information you may need later in stage one. So, watch me."**

Christina whistles lowly and leans into Will. "I know someone's who's watching." she whispers. "Very closely."

"We can all hear you."

Christina freezes momentarily. "I know that."

Tris grins tauntingly. "Do you?"

"Yes." She pauses. _No I did not. _

**He faces the wall with the targets on it—one square of plywood with three red circles on it for each of us. He stands with his feet apart, holds the gun in both hands, and fires. The bang is so loud it hurts my ears. I crane my neck to look at the target. The bullet went through the middle circle.**

"Show off." Zeke says shoving Four halfway off the couch, he straightens and huffs smirking lightly.

**I turn to my own target. My family would never approve of me firing a gun. They would say that guns are used for self- defense, if not violence, and therefore they are self-serving.**

Tris sneaks a peak at her family now, Caleb looks disapproving and her mother impassive. She catches her father's eye who offers a light smile at her. Taken a bit back she manages a smile back.

**I push my family from my mind, set my feet shoulder-width apart, and delicately wrap both hands around the handle of the gun. It's heavy and hard to lift away from my body, but I want it to be as far from my face as possible. I squeeze the trigger, hesitantly at first and then harder, cringing away from the gun. The sound hurts my ears and the recoil sends my hands back, toward my nose.**

"Oh shame." Zeke taunts.

"As if you were any better."

"Four!"

"First time you shot a gun you told me the backlash made you hit yourself in the face."

"_Four!_" Laughter spreads through the room. "You promised." Zeke pouts.

Tori chuckles raising her eyebrows, daringly. "I'm pretty sure you told that story a few weeks ago at a party."

"No I-."

Uriah looks at his brother. "Really? Dude, you tell that story every day. You hit your nose and you were bleeding."

"Yeah," Tori adds. "Pretty freaking hilarious story."

"But too consistent." Uriah adds.

Zeke sighs exasperatingly. "Why do I talk to you people?!"

**I stumble, pressing my hand to the wall behind me for balance. I don't know where my bullet went, but I know it's not near the target.**

"I swear she probably hit someone else's target." Uriah exclaims.

**I fire again and again and again, and none of the bullets come close.**

"This is just as sad as Peter." Will states still laughing.

**"Statistically speaking," the Erudite boy next to me—his name is Will—says, grinning at me, **

"That's me. Finally! No more jokes guys."

**"you should have hit the target at least once by now, even by accident." He is blond, with shaggy hair and a crease between his eyebrows.**

Christina grins fondly running her hands through her boyfriend's hair. "That's definitely Will."

"Why because of the annoying statistical comment?" Tris nibs.

"No." She answers dragging the 'o'.

"Because…" The ex Candor stops floundering. "No. Just no, I don't owe you anything Tris." Will stares down at her sardonically. "Wow, thanks babe. You're great." He whispers earning a playful tug at his locks.

**"Is that so," I say without inflection. ****"Yeah," he says. "I think you're actually defying nature."**

"Definitely the commentary." Marlene says chuckling lightly.

"Yeah." Tris makes a face. "I like this new Will better."

Will glances back down at Christina who shrugs wantonly. "Still nothing?" He asks. "You suck at this girlfriend thing." She sticks her tongue out.

**I grit my teeth**

"See what you did Will?" said Uriah. "You made Tris grit her teeth."

He snorts. "Yeah, my mistake."

**and turn toward the target, resolving to at least stand still. If I can't master the first task they give us, how will I ever make it through stage one?**

"Look! I helped her." Will states. "She's taking the statistical fact and conveying it to something positive."

Cara pouts whispering. "I wish you didn't leave Erudite, you're so clever."

"Cara, let's not have this discussion again."

"I just wish you woul-"

"No." His voice is final but soft. "Sorry." She murmurs her face conveying anything but.

**I squeeze the trigger, hard, and this time I'm ready for the recoil. It makes my hands jump back, but my feet stay planted. A bullet hole appears at the edge of _the_ target, and I raise an eyebrow at Will. ****"So you see, I'm right. The stats don't lie," he says.**

"You're just a shining beacon aren't you?" Tris glares halfheartedly. He smiles. "I gave you a boost of confidence. Your welcome."

**I smile a little.**

"Again, you're welcome."

"Shut up." She says still smiling.

**It takes me five rounds to hit the middle of the target, and when I do, a rush of energy goes through me. I am awake, my eyes wide open, my hands warm. I lower the gun. There is power in controlling something that can do so much damage—in controlling something, period.**

Tris hardly registers the words instead her mind flashing to that day, her body heating up in recognition of the feeling.

**Maybe I do belong here.**

Peter grits his teeth, biting back a comment.

**By the time we break for lunch, my arms throb from holding up the gun and my fingers are hard to straighten. I massage them on my way to the dining hall. Christina invites Al to sit with us. Every time I look at him, I hear his sobs again, so I try not to look at him.**

**I move my peas around with my fork, and my thoughts drift back to the aptitude tests. When Tori warned me that being Divergent was dangerous, I felt like it was branded on my face, and if I so much as turned the wrong way, someone would see it. So far it hasn't been a problem, but that doesn't make me feel safe. What if I let my guard down and something terrible happens?**

"You're being paranoid." Tori says. Tris starts to nod than turns to Peter and guffaws. "Nah. No, I don't think so."

**"Oh, come on. You don't remember me?" Christina asks Al as she makes a sandwich. "We were in Math together just a few days ago. And I am not a quiet person."**

**"I slept through Math most of the time," Al replies. "It was first hour!"**

Everyone laughs.

**What if the danger doesn't come soon—what if it strikes years from now and I never see it coming?**

Tori lifts her index finger in a saluting gesture. "Okay, now it's paranoid."

**"Tris," says Christina. She snaps her fingers in front of my face. "You in there?"**

**"What? What is it?"**

**"I asked if you remember ever taking a class with me," she says. "I mean, no offense, but I probably wouldn't remember if you did. All the Abnegation looked the same to me. I mean, they still do, but now you're not one of them." I stare at her. As if I need her to remind me.**

Everyone laughs again.

**"Sorry, am I being rude?" she asks.**

"Yes." Will answers. "I mean how aren't you being rude?" Christina rolls her eyes.

**"I'm used to just saying whatever is on my mind. Mom used to say that politeness is deception in pretty packaging."**

"Again, a terrible thing to say."

Christina's brows crease and her lips pucker. "I suck at this girlfriend thing aye? What about you?" Will grins. "I'm impossibly encouraging." She snorts grinning in response.

**"I think that's why our factions don't usually associate with each other," I say, with a short laugh. Candor and Abnegation don't hate each other the way Erudite and Abnegation do, but they avoid each other.**

"Hate is a strong word." Her mother's eyes dart to her son reassuringly. "It's really just a blown out of proportion dispute."

"Oh," Cara says rolling her eyes. "Sure that's the word."

**Candor's real problem is with Amity. Those who seek peace above all else, they say, will always deceive to keep the water calm.**

"Where'd you get that saying from?"

"Robert, I honestly think my mind is uncontrollable."

"Yeah it's the Divergence in her." Uriah agrees as if he knows all. "No idea what may come out next."

**"Can I sit here?" says Will, tapping the table with his finger. "What, you don't want to hang out with your Erudite buddies?" says Christina.**

**"They aren't my buddies," says Will, setting his plate down. "Just because we were in the same faction doesn't mean we get along. Plus, Edward and Myra are dating, and I would rather not be the third wheel."****Edward and Myra, the other Erudite transfers, sit two tables away, so close they bump elbows as they cut their food.**

Susan pauses her face heating up.

**Myra pauses to kiss Edward. I watch them carefully.**

Tris head bobs up and down her lips pulling back to form a sneer. "So slightly on the creepy side here." Most them stare wordlessly avoiding eye contact, they're faces a mixture of awkwardness, confusion and sympathy. "There's a plausible explanation."

**I've only seen a few kisses in my life.**

"That's not an explanation." Peter sniffs.

"From the point of view of old Tris how about- I'm an Abnegation that has seen a total of 3 people kissing in my 16 years of living and I'm curious."

"I swear I'm going to die before this book is over." Alexandra says clutching her stomach as she laughs uncontrollably.

**Edward turns his head and presses his lips to Myra's. Air hisses between my teeth, and I look away.**

"What happened to Miss creepy watching very carefully?"

"She got creeped out."

**Part of me waits for them to be scolded. Another part wonders, with a touch of desperation, what it would feel like to have someone's lips against mine.**

Susan stutters through the sentence and stops herself her face mirroring Tris, wide eyes and flushed faces. "Please keep reading." Tris says trying to talk above Peter's laughter. "_Touch of desperation!_"

"Shut up Peter." Christina barks. "It's cute."

"Yeah, sure it's not sad and pathetic."

"At least we know someone _wants_ to kiss her. Who would ever want to kiss you?" Peter scoffs. "I don't need to be gratified by a women and I'm not desperate to have a girl kiss me since it's a been there done that thing." He pauses then adds, "Plus, look at her." Peter jerks his thumb in Alexandra's direction who's caught surprised. "She's willing too."

"You know she's way out of your league right."

Alexandra waves her hands in the air. "Let's cut this here."

Christina tries. "But-"

"Cut." Tris bites the inside of her cheeks trying to remain impassive as the soft glow in her cheek fades. She can feel her mom and dad's curious gazes but it's easy to ignore. Though she can't shake the thought of what Four's face may look like now. _Is he completely embarrassed to be dating me? I would be._

**Do they have to be so public?" I say.**

"Jealousy makes you ugly." Peter taunts.

"Don't talk about yourself like that Peter."

"One more word Christi-"

Johanna sighs. "Enough." She utters loud and clear, before looking at Susan. "Please continue."

**"She just kissed him." Al frowns at me. When he frowns, his thick eyebrows touch his eyelashes. ****"It's not like they're stripping naked."**

**"A kiss is not something you do in public."  
**

"Where was this Tris when I suggested no PDA?" Caleb asks earning a look from Christina. "Dead and buried."

"A permanent vacation in Amity." Tris corrects.

**Al, Will, and Christina all give me the same knowing smile. "What?" I say. "Your Abnegation is showing," says Christina. "The rest of us are all right with a little affection in public."**

**"Oh." I shrug. "Well… I guess I'll have to get over it, then."**

**"Or you can stay frigid," says Will, his green eyes glinting with mischief. "You know. If you want."**

Uriah snickers. "And I have a dirty mind."

**Christina throws a roll at him. He catches it and bites it. "Don't be mean to her," she says. "Frigidity is in her nature. Sort of like being a know-it-all is in yours."**

**"I am not frigid!" I exclaim.**

"I mean you guys are just talking over her, the poor thing." said Marlene.

"Exactly." Tris nods in agreement.

"You had to see her face she was as red as the ketchup bottle on the table." Will defends laughing.

**"Don't worry about it," says Will. "It's endearing. Look, you're all red." The comment only makes my face hotter. Everyone else chuckles. I force a laugh and, after a few seconds, it comes naturally. It feels good to laugh again.**

"Aaw, we're such good friends." Christina hums. "Making Tris laugh when she feels awkward." Said girl rolls her eyes chuckling.

**After lunch, Four leads us to a new room. It's huge, with a wood floor that is cracked and creaky and has a large circle painted in the middle. On the left wall is a green board—a chalkboard. My Lower Levels teacher used one, but I haven't seen one since then. Maybe it has something to do with Dauntless priorities: training comes first, technology comes second. ****Our names are written on the board in alphabetical order. Hanging at three-foot intervals along one end of the room are faded black punching bags. We line up behind them and Four stands in the middle, where we can all see him.**

**"As I said this morning," says Four, "next you will learn how to fight. The purpose of this is to prepare you to act; to prepare your body to respond to threats and challenges—which you will need, if you intend to survive life as a Dauntless." I can't even think of life as a Dauntless. All I can think about is making it through initiation.**

"I think that's a good mind set, but what happens when initiation is over?"

Tris blinks confused. "I'm not really sure. I mean it's over now and I have no idea what's going to happen next now that I'm not dying guess we'll see." Caleb nods.

**"We will go over technique today, and tomorrow you will start to fight each other," says Four. "So I recommend that you pay attention. Those who don't learn fast will get hurt." Four names a few different punches, demonstrating each one as he does, first against the air and then against the punching bag.**

**I catch on as we practice. Like with the gun, I need a few tries to figure out how to hold myself and how to move my body to make it look like his. The kicks are more difficult, though he only teaches us the basics. The punching bag stings my hands and feet, turning my skin red, and barely moves no matter how hard I hit it.**

"The image of Tris throwing herself at a punching bag," Uriah says. "She goes at it, hits it full on, the bag doesn't move but she falls to the ground." Tris glowers at him. "Hilarious."

"I know right." said Alexandra chuckling, along with everyone else.

**All around me is the sound of skin hitting tough fabric. ****Four wanders through the crowd of initiates, watching us as we go through the movements again. When he stops in front of me, my insides twist like someone's stirring them with a fork.**

"I think that's called getting hor-" Marlene hand smacks against Uriah's mouth. "Uriah!" She exclaims. He smirks under her mouth wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the room's shocked faces.

"What?" He says when she finally mouths her hand. "I was going to say horrified."

"Sure."

**He stares at me, his eyes following my body from my head to my feet, not lingering anywhere—a practical, scientific gaze.**

"Glad you know. Some of the initiates were giving me weird looks. Honestly." Four says his tone exasperated.

**"You don't have much muscle," he says, "which means you're better off using your knees and elbows. You can put more power behind them." ****Suddenly he presses a hand to my stomach. His fingers are so long that, though the heel of his hand touches one side of my rib cage, his fingertips still touch the other side. My heart pounds so hard my chest hurts, and I stare at him, wide-eyed.**

Suddenly laughter bursts through the entire room. "Oh my God!" Christina exclaims her words muffled by her hands covering her mouth.

"Oh- oh, it hurts." Alexandra moans her face tinging red. Tris blushes making the laughter increase tenfold. "It's as if he grabbed your butt or something." Uriah groans.

"I've never been touched by anyone outside of my family so_ intimately._"

"Intimately? He was adjusting your stance." Will laughs.

"But he was touching me! And it wasn't top knock me over." Tris argues.

"Oh God, this is precious." Peter grins wiping an invisible tear. Natalie and Andrew share an amused smile at their daughter's innocence. Tris shakes her head not even peeping up at Four to gouge his reaction, but she stiffens when he shifts. She feels his head lowering to her, his breathe against her ear. "I think it's cute." He says so softly that she barely hears above the laughter. But she does and her face only reddens more.

"Four." She groans.

"What?" He smirks innocently but she still doesn't look at him. "It is." He says. The laughter eventually dies down Marlene and Christina being the ones to drag it out the most. Causing Alexandra and Uriah's ever so contagious laughter to make everyone else laugh.

"I can't imagine the first kiss." Marlene says. "I feel like you'll jump him, Tris."

"Marlene." The Divergent hisses.

"I mean a hand makes you react like that imagine-" Christina cuts herself off at her friends glare her laughter turning to a dry cough.

**"Never forget to keep tension here," he says in a quiet voice. ****Four lifts his hand and keeps walking. I feel the pressure of his palm even after he's gone. It's strange, but I have to stop and breathe for a few seconds before I can keep practicing again.**

Uriah presses his face to a pillow his shaking shoulder's an indication of why. Marlene, Christina and Alexandra's eyes water all trying to cover up their laughter. Peter outright laughs.

"Really Tris," Lynn says. "You're asking for it." Tris slumps in her seat ignoring Four's comforting pat on the shoulder because it makes her feel strange and excited again.

**When Four dismisses us for dinner, Christina nudges me with her elbow. ****"I'm surprised he didn't break you in half," she says. She wrinkles her nose. "He scares the hell out of me. It's that quiet voice he uses."**

"But not you obviously." Christina squeaks. "Someone likes that quiet voice."

**"Yeah. He's…" I look over my shoulder at him. He is quiet, and remarkably self-possessed. But I wasn't afraid that he would hurt me.**

Tris doesn't have to look to know the ends of Four's lips are upturned slighty.

**"…definitely intimidating," I finally say. Al, who was in front of us, turns around once we reach the Pit and announces, "I want to get a tattoo."**

**From behind us, Will asks, "A tattoo of what?"**

**"I don't know." Al laughs. "I just want to feel like I've actually left the old faction. Stop crying about it." When we don't respond, he adds, "I know you've heard me."**

"Well, that helps the awkwardness." Caleb says.

**"Yeah, learn to quiet down, will you?" Christina pokes Al's thick arm. "I think you're right. We're half in, half out right now. If we want all the way in, we should look the part."**

**She gives me a look. "No. I will not cut my hair," I say, "or dye it a strange color. Or pierce my face."**

"That I'm proud of." Andrew interjects. Tris nods not bothering to tell him she's reconsidering the cutting part.

**"How about your bellybutton?" she says.**

**"Or your nipple?" Will says with a snort.**

Everyone chuckles. Four makes a face.

**I groan. ****Now that training is done for the day, we can do whatever we want until it's time to sleep. The idea makes me feel almost giddy, although that might be from fatigue.**

**T****he Pit is swarming with people. ****Christina announces that she and I will meet Al and Will at the tattoo parlor and drags me toward the clothing place. We stumble up the path, climbing higher above the Pit floor, scattering stones with our shoes.**

Alexandra fidgets with the tablet and the image of the clothing store appears. "That is creepy." Uriah declares. "I like you." He finishes earning a mischievous smile from Alexandra and a pouting one from Marlene.

**"What is wrong with my clothes?" I say. "I'm not wearing gray anymore."**

**"They're ugly and gigantic." She sighs.**

Susan pauses glancing down at her clothes now, she'd worn her Abnegation slacks and a large gray sweater. Christina's eyes widen at her hurt expression. "Not all of it." She adds. "It's all just a bit to over-sized."

"Just horrible things coming out of your mou-"

"Will!"  
"Shutting up."

**"Will you just let me help you? If you don't like what I put you in, you never have to wear it again, I promise." ****Ten minutes later I stand in front of a mirror in the clothing place wearing a knee-length black dress. The skirt isn't full, but it isn't stuck to my thighs, either—unlike the first one she picked out, which I refused. Goose bumps appear on my bare arms. She slips the tie from my hair and I shake it out of its braid so it hangs wavy over my shoulders.**

**Then she holds up a black pencil. "Eyeliner," she says. ****"You aren't going to be able to make me pretty, you know."**

"Oh the insecurity is annoying." Peter murmurs to himself.

**I close my eyes and hold still. She runs the tip of the pencil along the line of my eyelashes. I imagine standing before my family in these clothes, and my stomach twists like I might be sick.**

"You don't have a picture of that do you?" Caleb asks frowning at the description.

"No." Alexandra says sounding disappointed. Tris family sighs in relief.

**"Who cares about pretty? I'm going for noticeable." ****I open my eyes and for the first time stare openly at my own reflection. My heart rate picks up as I do, like I am breaking the rules and will be scolded for it. It will be difficult to break the habits of thinking Abnegation instilled in me, like tugging a single thread from a complex work of embroidery.**

_Seriously the thought process of this girl._ Uriah thinks silently.

"Dramatic." Marlene says a loud.

**But I will find new habits, new thoughts, new rules. I will become something else.**

"**Someone else..."** Susan corrects curiously.

"I think I meant something." Tris says. "I wanted to stay who I was but add something else and develop." Susan nods understandingly.

**My eyes were blue before, but a dull, greyish blue—the eyeliner makes them piercing. With my hair framing my face, my features look softer and fuller. I am not pretty—my eyes are too big and my nose is too long—but I can see that Christina is right. My face is noticeable.**

"Oh Tris stop caring about that so much." Christina groans, "You're cute."

_No I'm not._

**Looking at myself now isn't like seeing myself for the first time; it's like seeing someone else for the first time. Beatrice was a girl I saw in stolen moments at the mirror, who kept quiet at the dinner table. This is someone whose eyes claim mine and don't release me; this is Tris.**

**"See?" she says. "You're…striking." Under the circumstances, it's the best compliment she could have given me. I smile at her in the mirror.**

"We're meant to be together." Christina declares. Tris smiles at her. "Definitely."

Alexandra's eyes catch Violets who raises her eyebrows at her. "Me and you." She mouths as Susan continues reading. Violet rolls her eyes but is smiles lightly. Alexandra makes a heart with her hands. "I love ya." Violet snorts silently but mouths back. "Me too."

**"You like it?" she says. "Yeah." I nod. "I look like…a different person."**

**She laughs. "That a good thing or a bad thing?"**

**I look at myself head-on again. For the first time, the idea of leaving my Abnegation identity behind doesn't make me nervous; it gives me hope. ****"A good thing." I shake my head. "Sorry, I've just never been allowed to stare at my reflection for this long."**

**"Really?" Christina shakes her head. "Abnegation is a strange faction, I have to tell you."**

"Hmm, thanks." said Marcus.

"Sorry man; meant no offence I've learnt a lot now." Christina says. "That was old me."

**"Let's go watch Al get tattooed," I say. Despite the fact that I have left my old faction behind, I don't want to criticize it yet.**

"Yet." Andrew raises an eyebrow.

"Haha, I think that's a typo. It's supposed to say 'criticize it ever." Tris feels terrible for even considering making fun of where she comes from, where her parents still are, where Tobias came from.

**At home, my mother and I picked up nearly identical stacks of clothing every six months or so. It's easy to allocate resources when everyone gets the same thing, but everything is more varied at the Dauntless compound. Every Dauntless gets a certain amount of points to spend per month, and the dress costs one of them.**

**Christina and I race down the narrow path to the tattoo place. When we get there, Al is sitting in the chair already, and a small, narrow man with more ink than bare skin is drawing a spider on his arm.**

**Will and Christina flip through books of pictures, elbowing each other when they find a good one. When they sit next to each other, I notice how opposite they are, Christina dark and lean, Will pale and solid, but alike in their easy smiles.**

"And so their love story began." Tris says allowing herself some pleasure in seeing her best friends squirming. "Shut up." Christina mutters wrapping her arms round Will's. "We're adorable."

**I wander around the room, looking at the artwork on the walls. These days, the only artists are in Amity. Abnegation sees art as impractical, and its appreciation as time that could be spent serving others, so though I have seen works of art in textbooks, I have never been in a decorated room before. It makes the air feel close and warm, and I could get lost here for hours without noticing. I skim the wall with my fingertips. A picture of a hawk on one wall reminds me of Tori's tattoo. Beneath it is a sketch of a bird in flight.**

**"It's a raven," a voice behind me says. "Pretty, right?" ****I turn to see Tori standing there. I feel like I am back in the aptitude test room,**

"Yeah you do." Uriah smirks.

**with the mirrors all around me and the wires connected to my forehead. I didn't expect to see her again. ****"Well, hello there." She smiles. "Never thought I would see you again. Beatrice, is it?"**

**"Tris, actually," I say. "Do you work here?"**

**"I do. I just took a break to administer the tests. Most of the time I'm here." She taps her chin. "I recognize that name. You were the first jumper, weren't you?"**

**"Yes, I was."**

**"Well done."**

**"Thanks." I touch the sketch of the bird. "Listen—I need to talk to you about…" I glance over at Will and Christina. I can't corner Tori now; they'll ask questions. "…something. Sometime."**

"Wow," Peter eyes widen and he nods. "Subtle."

**"I am not sure that would be wise," she says quietly. "I helped you as much as I could, and now you will have to go it alone." I purse my lips. She has answers; I know she does. If she won't give them to me now, I will have to find a way to make her tell me some other time.**

"Go Tris," Uriah says. "get your girl."

**"Want a tattoo?" she says. ****The bird sketch holds my attention. I never intended to get pierced or tattooed when I came here. I know that if I do, it will place another wedge between me and my family that I can never remove. And if my life here continues as it has been, it may soon be the least of the wedges between us.**

**But I understand now what Tori said about her tattoo representing a fear she overcame—a reminder of where she was, as well as a reminder of where she is now. Maybe there is a way to honor my old life as I embrace my new one.**

The screen slides to an image of Tris- her collarbone.

**"Yes," I say. "Three of these flying birds."**

**I touch my collarbone, marking the path of their flight—toward my heart. One for each member of the family I left behind.**

Natalie, Andrew and Caleb all stare at Tris with masked shock. "That's the end of the chapter." Susan says quietly closing the book.

"What's the title?" Caleb asks. She shakes her head. "I- um… I don't k-know."

"Try?" He presses gently.

Susan nods and everyone watches as she contemplates, after a few seconds-

"Bea- Tris. Theirs a hyphen." She pauses again. "Bea- Tris is Born."

"That's a keeper." Caleb smiles earning a blush. "Very clever." Uriah adds agreeing.

* * *

**Another chapter bites the dust! Next one coming soon.**

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***-{Merry Christmas}-* **


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